Morrigan threw her black dagger into the air. It flipped in the air before she grabbed it from its blade’s tip. She has been doing it for some time now while she walked. It was a thing she did to keep herself entertained in her free time or when she felt extra stressed. It was dangerous, of course, to fling a blade this sharp while walking. If she failed to grab it she would cut herself. Yet she never failed.
Lily tried to speak about her cat-like reflexes but she made him shut up quickly.
Speaking of stress, oh boy, was she stressed. Regal, that son of a bi- She stopped herself from calling him that. He and Arslan shared the same mother after all.
That bastard was still alive and out there. She had him between her claws and he managed to escape!
That armored son of a bitch! Just remembering him sent shivers down Morrigan’s spine. Her hand caressed her right side even though her wounds were healed some time ago. Whoever he was, he was strong enough to make Regal kneel before him. His mana was also overwhelming, and he managed to swat her away like she was an annoying bug and broke her ribs. When she was using Primal Evocation at the boot too!
Her companion, that chatty bastard, knew about him. What’s weirder, he asked them not to talk about him in front of Poyraz. He was weirdly serious about it. Even with Morrigan’s less than good social skills, she could tell that all three were related.
She massaged her forehead. Damn Human Gods. Not only were their followers racist against beastkin, but now they also brought people from another world here. She sighed to herself. She couldn’t believe she was actually believing that trickster’s words.
“Are you okay there, Morty?”
Morrigan slowly turned her head to Lily with an annoyed look on her face. She was used to nicknames and slurs, but what Lily called her was... Unfamiliar.
“I told you I can find him myself. You didn’t have to come.”
A mischievous smile formed on Lily’s face.
“Unless you missed him that much?”
“I have things to ask him.”
In contrast to Lily’s joking tone, Morrigan was serious.
“Like why he was with that Silverfox woman?”
Morrigan contemplated throwing her dagger to his face but she didn’t act on that thought. She tried it before, and she failed before. His non-stop talking was only matched by his skill, and it annoyed the shit out of Morrigan.
She quickly learned to not react to his teasings, but sometimes it was hard to do so.
Of course, Morrigan felt weird hearing her ally work with a Silverfox. She clenched her jaw tightly, her longer than normal canines hurting her. Yet she didn''t talk about it to Lily. He was still an outsider.
“Like why are you guys here. Why did Stars think pulling humans from another world was a good idea? What kind of world did you guys come from?”
“You know you can ask me those things too, right?”
“I tried. You didn’t give me a straight answer.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Lily let out a small chuckle.
“Straight, huh? Yeah, I am incapable of being straight. But don’t get your hopes up. It is highly likely Poyraz also doesn’t know a lot of stuff about our condition.”
It was true that Lily answered every question she asked except about the armored man. However, she couldn’t tell where his jokes started and ended.
She stopped walking as her ears perked up. Her sudden stop nearly made Lily fall to the ground as he also tried to stop. Morrigan took a breath of relief. According to Ama, this place was where they told Poyraz to come if they proceed with freeing the beastkin. Both Morrigan and Lily have been walking around this place for hours after one of the beastkin they left there to observe Silverfox’s movements and told them that he left the town and was moving to this place.
Yes, they could send someone less important than them to guide him to their position but…
Morrigan looked back at Lily. He wanted to be one to meet him, and she wasn’t sure it was a good idea to let an air-brained idiot collect a valuable ally.
She stopped, wondering why she saw Poyraz as a valuable ally. He surely helped them but was he that valuable? Morrigan shook her head. Maybe Lily''s teasing was getting to her head.
Also, she wasn’t sure how much she trusted Lily. She trusted him, of course, but the amount of trust was… Small.
She looked at him. He also noticed her.
He looked different. His hair was longer and was grey now. He had a scar on his eye which made Morrigan feel uneasy. However, she quickly noticed that despite the scar, his eye was functional.
His eyes… They were purple now with a canine look on them.
He looked bulkier, but Morrigan wasn’t sure if it was because of the new armor he wore or if he did gain muscle.
Even with his drastic change in less than a year what was the most shocking to Morrigan was how shadows tried to hug him. Morrigan knew Poyraz had stealth abilities when they rescued beastkin from the cultist cave. But it wasn’t to this degree.
Morrigan used shadows to hide herself to go unnoticed. She had to consciously and carefully blend into shadows. Yet he was doing the same thing while just walking. He was just existing, and shadows created by trees blocking the sun tried to reach him, gently caressing his armor.
He looked at her and smiled. Then his gaze fell upon her companion, and he froze. His mouth slowly opened, but no voice came out. Morrigan heard Lily move forward.
“What’s up, baby? Did you miss me?”
Lily opened his arms wide for a hug. Poyraz took a step forward, but it was more like he tried to stop himself from collapsing.
“I know I look dashing, but come on! You should be used to it right now.”
Poyraz lunged forward so fast and furiously that Morrigan pulled her daggers instinctively. But rather than attacking one of them, he hugged Lily. He couldn’t stop himself, and both Lily and Poyraz fell to the ground.
“My ribs! Too tight! Too tight!”
Morrigan looked at the duo on the ground with worried eyes until Lily started to laugh.
“A love you would be better, but I will accept this too.”
“Lily.”
“Yes, honey?”
“Get your fucking hands off my ass!”
A loud gasping noise escaped Morrigan’s mouth as Poyraz lifted Lily up and slammed him back to the ground.
“Oh, God! I remember this! I can’t believe you used the same technique you used to slam a Brute on me!”
Lily shouted in pain.
“Apparently you didn’t remember to keep your hands to yourselves.”
Poyraz got up and extended his hand to his still on the ground friend. Lily grabbed his hand, but suddenly a white, fluffy ball of death jumped to his face.
“Lily, meet G?kb?rü.”
Lily let out a muffled scream before pulling G?kb?rü off his face. He looked at the G?kb?rü who was wagging his tail and trying to lick
his face with disgust in his face. G?kb?rü tried to push his head forward to lick him, but Lily desperately tried to keep him far away from himself.
“Does he bite?”
“No, but he freezes people.”
“Should I be worried?”
“Only if you piss me off.”
Lily let G?kb?rü on the ground. He ran towards Morrigan and sniffed her. Poyraz also turned to her. He offered her a handshake.
“This is kinda embarrassing. I still haven’t delivered your letter.”
Morrigan grabbed his hand.
“It is not a problem. Ama and others told me about how you helped them. Thank you for getting those beastkin out of that dammed place.”
Poyraz frowned when he remembered how he managed to trust the guard’s trust in the first place.
“I didn’t do that much. Just got several of them out of there.”
“Ama told me the number was bigger than “several”.”
Poyraz scratched the back of his head.
“It is not important. What’s important is…”
He looked at both Morrigan and Lily.
“I am assuming you have a story to tell?”
He grabbed Lily’s arm.
“Especially you.”
Lily groaned as Poyraz’s iron grip grasped his arm.