Embers of the Lost

“Where are we going first?” Kiki queried after a long stretch of heavy silence. Axel had shifted forms and walked below Lily on the ground keeping an ear out for threats.

“Kita-Utara. It’s the closest town to the mountains, therefore the closest to us.”

“And how do we find the Byrnes?”

“Well, we know disguises work… I doubt they’ll expect to find me in a larger town.” Lily half chortled, her fingers dancing over the healing skin on the side of her head. It was still reddened and scabbed, but the paste Axel had made her was doing wonders for the pain and the speed of healing. Apparently, as his kind could only control one element, they had developed many medicines that required zero magic involvement. Lily’s mind went back to the man with his ill wife, perhaps the medicine he wanted the flowers for was created in a similar way.

Lily also found herself wondering if his wife had gotten better. Losing a soulmate wasn’t something she would wish on anyone… not even Finnigan and she was confident that he was the reason she’d lost one of her soulmates.

“Oh no… what are you going to turn me into?” Kiki gulped, pulling Lily out of her thoughts.

“Well, I can remember the words for snake and raven now… so you’ll be one and Axel will be the other.”

“I don’t need to be an animal.” Axel chimed from beneath them in his humanoid form.

“You’ll stand out like that more than you would as a tiger.” Lily rolled her eyes.

“I can become fully human,” He informed her indignantly.

Lily jumped down from the branches to stand in front of him with an eyebrow raised. “You what?”

“I have a fully human form.”

“So why do you walk around like that?”

“I prefer it.” Axel commented bluntly, raising an eyebrow in return as though daring Lily to judge his choice. Instead, she let out a small laugh.

“Fair enough.” She shrugged. “A human form will help us out a lot. As far as anyone is concerned, Lily ‘the traitor’ travels alone. So, if I’m disguised and walking around with you it’ll mask suspicions even more.” Folding her arms across her chest, Lily nodded at the male. “Come on then, let’s see this human form.”

“You’re very demanding…” Axel laughed.

“I have very little time and patience left.” Lily deadpanned, though she was relieved that Axel didn’t seem annoyed at her quickly-diminishing positivity.

“Yeah yeah, stop the war. I know.” Axel rolled his eyes before closing them and focusing on changing his body. Fur receded along with the ears, tail and claws, leaving a tall and incredibly handsome man. He still had the goatee against softly tanned skin and his muscular body showed itself to a high degree without the fur masking it from sight.

“You’ll still stand out…” Lily commented with a shake of her head.

“Oh?”

“You look too good. Like, magical good even in a magical world.”

“Why, thank you.”

“I’m not complimenting you.”

“It sounds like you are.” Axel teased despite the irritated glare he gained from the girl.

“I’m saying you will get people’s attention and we don’t need that.” Lily chided.

“Ok, so you get me a hooded cloak and I let my beard grow scraggy until I look like a homeless punk?” Axel smiled down at her, his grin just as cheeky as it was when he was covered in fur.

“Cloak would make you suspicious… ragged clothes and an unkept beard might help.”

“Rags? Really?” Axel whined.

“You can always leave.”

Axel frowned before sighing in defeat. “Damn. You’re such a grump. Thankfully, that doesn’t put me off in the slightest and I still think this is more fun than anything I’d be doing while wandering the world alone.”

“Glad to be of assistance…” Lily deadpanned before handing over the coat she had been carrying since the mountains. Axel took hold of it and was clearly going to comment about how her small size wouldn’t fit him, but he didn’t get the words out before Lily had tapped the coat with the end of her scythe and muttered ’Textilce’ redesigning the garment into something thinner but larger so Axel could wear it on his torso. He curled his lip slightly at the brown and tan coloured tunic he was holding before giving in without protest and shrugging it onto his body.

“You can show off to women after the war has been stopped.” Lily grumbled.

“Who said it’s women I’d show off to?”

Axel laughed loudly at the look of surprise that moved over Lily’s face followed by a look of understanding guilt.

“Sorry.” Lily mumbled. “Shouldn’t assume.”

Ruffling her hair and receiving a smack to his hand, Axel grinned again, adjusting his tunic as he began walking. “All good. I happen to like both.”

“I don’t know what I like…”

“You literally just looked through me like my body didn’t exist. I reckon you like personality and connections rather than the body.”

Lily glanced up at the man with a confused expression on her face.

“Some people feel connections to the soul rather than any attraction to the physical body of another person.” Axel explained though he merely got a curious musing expression from Lily before she looked away. Was that what she felt? It certainly had been the lie of a personality of Finnigan that had drawn her in, though she couldn’t deny she had found his green eyes intoxicatingly beautiful.

“There’s so much about this world I don’t know.” She whispered softly, almost sadly.

“You seem to know more than most on this island.” Axel reassured, though the air around Lily was heavy. Something Kiki took care of when she fluttered down to match their heights and huffed.

“I’ve decided, if you make me a snake, I will bite everyone I see. I want legs at least!”

Lily snorted with the sudden laughter in her throat as she looked at the indigent cat who had obviously missed the rest of the conversation. “Ok. Raven it is. You still won’t be able to talk though.”

“Yeah, but that will also help the disguise. It won’t be possible for anyone to hear me talk back to you.” Kiki sighed dramatically. “Though how you will cope without hearing my voice for a while I cannot imagine.”

“It will be the hardest thing I’ll ever endure,” Lily teased.

“It better be, or I will peck you.”

“Well, now that’s just mean.” Lily laughed, reaching out to nudge the feline gently with her hand. Even as a raven Kiki would be good to have around.

It took a week to walk to Kita-Utara, and once they had come into open plains, Lily had disguised them as intended. Her hair was black, the burn on the side of her head masked as a chosen style, her eyes blue to match Axel’s, her shimmer hidden behind slightly tanned skin. Axel had kept his promise and let his beard grow over the days, it wasn’t long and unkempt yet, but it certainly was starting to hide some of his facial features. Lily smirked now and then at the odd grey hair that grew in it, asking just how old Axel actually was.

Turned out he was over three hundred years old, his kind living for near eight-hundred in general.

Axel had been in the jail long enough to have heard the stories from two of the century wars of the island, and long enough that he’d spent two-thirds of his life there.

Lily could understand why he was aiming to just enjoy life. After so long of nothing, surely anyone would want to have fun where they could.

Her attitude softened a little at the information; he had suffered more than anyone she knew by being left there alone for so long. It was any wonder he wasn’t more unstable. Lily wasn’t sure she would have survived with her sanity. Heck, she wasn’t sure she had survived the Plains of Atilavox or Oscar’s death with her sanity. Her thoughts jumped all over the place, they were irrational and the voices still spoke to her. Even now they told her that her plan was going to fail because she was useless and nothing but a burden.

“So how we playing this? Travelling siblings?” Axel hissed as they approached the great wooden gates of Kita-Utara. The settlement seemed older, designed more of wood than stone, possibly due to stone holding the cold of the environment.

“Fleeing villages overrun by the military?”

“Good reasoning. I’ll be the protective older brother, you can be the bratty little sister.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well you have an attitude, so it’ll fit.”

Lily rolled her eyes at the comment. It wasn’t that she had an attitude, she just hadn’t had the mental and emotional energy to try and make Axel like her. She had so much on her mind that thoughts of pleasing people weren’t at the forefront for the first time in her life.

Letting the black hair fall over her face a little, left scruffy and back combed to hide her ears even with the missing panel of hair, Lily stuffed her hands into the black trousers she had created and slouched her shoulders.

“See, grumpy sister indeed.” Axel chortled, slinging his arm around her like a playful brother might and pulled her through the gates and into the outskirts of the town. “Besides, the less attention you get, the better. It’s bad enough that we’ve got to excuse your ‘companion’ being in a cage. At least if you aren’t nice, I can claim the snake isn’t either.”

Lily glanced down at the satchel where Lucretia remained. They had turned her into a snake so that there were two ‘companion animals’ for two ‘witches’ and Lily had fashioned two false wands for them to carry but hopefully not need to use. Kiki ruffled her feathers in light protest, not liking that she was having to pretend to be Axel’s companion in the plan. But still, she perched on his shoulder without much discomfort.

“With you as a brother, it’s no wonder I have an attitude.” Lily grumbled, ignoring the snort of amusement from Axel as he dragged them to a building which looked much like a tavern.

Inside, both of them froze in their step at the sight of the person behind the bar and the man sitting to the side.

“You’re not witches!” Lily exclaimed as she approached.

The bartender was six foot in height, with long forest-green hair and pointed ears that reached upwards from her head, unhidden at all by the hair like Lily’s were. She also had fangs that flashed into sight as she spoke to the male companion. He shared her length of ears, with his long purple hair pulled back into a ponytail, making no effort to hide the features. His purple eyes glinted with amusement as they turned to look at the little fairy. Though it was the green-haired beauty who spoke.

“If you can see that, then neither are you.” Her voice was deep for a typical female, and her smirk was surprisingly mischievous as she examined them both.

“But… this is a witch town!” Lily hissed, looking around at the customers in the tavern. There were not many due to the time of day, but they were witches.

“That’s what everyone is meant to think.” The bartender chuckled, before pulling out a couple of glasses to set on the counter. “What can I get you?”

“Oh, mead please!” Axel chimed.

“What? No. Wait.” Lily stammered as she looked at Axel like he was insane for just taking this in their stride.

“Have a drink, then we’ll have a chat.” The purple-haired male spoke, his face tired but his voice stern. Lily swallowed under his scrutiny before looking at the lime-green eyes of the bartender.

“Just water… thanks.”

“Exotic.” The bartender rolled her eyes with a chuckle before pouring out the two requested drinks. Once she handed them over, she motioned for them to follow her behind the bar and into the back room. The purple-haired male stood to flank them from behind, showing his insane height of what must have been close to seven feet. Lily officially felt like a child as she walked with them, but it only made her stand straighter as though that would help her.

The back room was cramped, hardly enough space to fit the four of them, filled with shelves of various bottles and flasks. The bartender jumped up to sit on the side next to a safe where she likely kept the takings of the tavern. The purple-haired male leant against the doorway, both to keep an eye on the tavern and it almost felt he was specifically blocking Axel, Lily and Kiki in.

It felt like if they said the wrong answers, they wouldn’t leave this room. Lily shuddered at the thought as it crossed her mind.

“So, you two look like witches. But you can see us. What are you?” The bartender spoke with a slight amused curl of her lip which showed off the fang on the right side.

“Vilankuri.” Axel answered, really taking all this in his stride.

Lily glanced from him, to the raven on his shoulder and back to the green haired being. She didn’t really have much choice, did she?

“Fairy,” she answered, not missing the raised eyebrow she received. “I was born without wings.” She explained the unspoken question.

“Ah. So, you’re the terrible traitor everyone’s talking about?”

Lily chewed on her lower lip, though she didn’t need to answer that obvious question before the bartender continued.

“From the rumours, anyone would think you were eight foot and dressed like death itself. True you have a scythe?”

Lily let out a small laugh at the description. Were the rumours that bad already? Pulling out her ‘wand’ she muttered the spell to turn it back to its original form, displaying the charred scythe for them to see. The green-haired being let out a low whistle of approval before chortling to herself.

“Touché. Well, I’m Liserli. I’m an ancient who’s a mixed race of people you’d never have heard of. And Pyran here is the same, but he was born to someone under the influence of the Morequacor so have certain mind abilities.” She explained. “He has control over this whole town enough to mask anyone who isn’t a witch against the witches. It’s a bit of a safe haven for wayward souls, but also stays completely under the radar of any discrimination.”

“The Morequacor isn’t real,” Lily interrupted.

“Oh, it is.” Pyran spoke up. “It’s just not what the legends think it is and it has powers you wouldn’t guess. I only heard about it from my mother and I still doubt I understand it.”

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. If it was real, had she really seen it back then on the beach? But if it wasn’t what the legends said, why would it show itself to a girl who felt like she was about to die?

Liserli’s eyes narrowed a little as she coughed to get the attention back on her. “You’re welcome to stay. The rules are simple. You do not give anyone away for what they really are. If you mess up, I will slaughter you myself.” Her fangs flashed in warning as she smiled at them.

Lily gulped. That wasn’t a threat. That was a promise.

“I don’t want to out anyone. I’m looking for a specific family.” Whether it was because they weren’t witches, or whether it was because they were obviously aware of the way those who were different were treated, Lily wasn’t sure, but something made her spill her story to Liserli and Pyran. Perhaps she truly was desperately grabbing at any string that might provide her with some support in her endeavour. Part way through, Pyran vacated the room to go and take orders from anyone who had approached the bar, but Liserli listened with a seemingly bored expression.

“So that’s the reason the war keeps happening. I did think the insistence of racism was odd from the officials.”

“Racism?”

“The discrimination of other humanoid races and cultures due to differences, basically.” Liserli shrugged. “All the officials here are so against anyone who isn’t a witch it’s intense. It’s only gotten worse since you came on the scene.”

Lily winced at the guilt that shot through her. “Are any of the officials called Byrne?”

Liserli mused the question for a moment before shaking her head. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“I was told some resided here.” Lily cursed, pulling out the family tree from her satchel and spread it out to the side of Liserli. “What about any of these names?”

“And what, exactly, do I get out of this little exchange?”

Lily blinked up at the lime green eyes. Silence in the little room was only broken by the angry flapping of Kiki’s wings.

“What?”

“This war doesn’t affect me. I just take a holiday and then come back and build another tavern under a different disguise.” Liserli leaned back against the shelves and folded her arms across her chest. “So, what do I get for sticking my neck out and helping you find an ancient, well connected and powerful family? I have no interest in being on their radar.”

“But people will die!”

“People die every day.” Liserli countered. “I don’t see anyone risking their neck to change those.”

“Lily probably would if she had an idea how…” Axel chuckled.

“Idealistic idiocracy.” Liserli dismissed, pushing herself off the side and heading back for the tavern’s main room. “Well good luck to you. Feel free to pay for a room while you stay.”

Lily stared at the doorway incredulously. Her brain seemed to be stuck in place like a record that had been damaged.

‘Useless.’

‘Just give up.’

‘No one cares.’

“How can she not care?!” Lily demanded aloud, drowning out the voices in her mind and turning to look at Axel as though expecting him to have an answer for her. Though she quickly snorted and shook her head, “Why am I asking you? You don’t care either, you’re just here for fun.”

Rolling up the scroll and stuffing it back into her satchel, Lily stormed out of the little back room and out of the tavern without looking back. She just about registered the flutter of wings before Kiki perched onto her shoulder to ride wherever Lily was headed.

Every single person she seemed to meet cared more about themselves than the unnecessary slaughter of thousands of fairies and witches. Their lifestyle or their beliefs or whatever were never worth risking. How selfish could the world get?!

‘You’re one to talk. What if you are wrong and your actions are selfishly going to get people around you killed?’

She hated that the main little voice in her head belonged to Finnigan Byrne. No matter the months that went by, she couldn’t get him to stop haunting her. Every time she heard his voice in her mind, her neck constricted at the memory of being bound.

“I’m not wrong.” She growled under her breath at nothing while turning down a dark alley where it would be quiet and out of the main public eye. Sitting down on the ground, Lily cast her eyes up to watch the clouds rolling in with the promise of rain. Kiki fluttered down to perch on her knee and watch her with her head tilted to the side. Lily had been teasing, but right now she wished she could transform Kiki back so they could talk.

“Am I doing this all wrong?” She asked the raven who cawed back in response. Should she conform and do what was best for herself in spite of the world? What was better for her would be to leave and never come back. She wished she had decided to leave back on the Xeomont peaks. If she had, Oscar would still be there.

Leaning forward to press her nose against the raven’s beak and the only thing left in her vision was the face of her soul companion, Lily sighed.

“You just need to be more realistic.” The deep voice made her jump, putting her on edge as Axel sat down beside her. “You are much more likely to get people on board if they can see a benefit for themselves or their loved ones. If the risk outweighs the benefits then they won’t want to risk it.”

“It’s wrong.”

“Maybe. But that’s how people survive.” Axel shrugged, his eyes suggesting he knew this more intimately than he was giving away.

Droplets of rain began to hit their faces as silence engulfed.

“Liserli’s agreed to help.” Axel half whispered.

“What? How?” Lily started.

“I threatened her.” Axel stated bluntly. “I made the benefit outweigh the risk.”

Lily blinked up at him in surprise. “But… that’s…”

“Wrong?” Axel supplied with a chuckle. “What’s right and wrong is a very grey area, and in this case, surely the greater good of getting the Byrnes outweighs the threats?”

Lily chewed her lip. That was how she had justified forcing Lucretia to tell her where her relations could be found, but it still didn’t sit right with her. She didn’t like that she was having to become someone who could cause such negativities for others. She wanted to take those away from people. She didn’t want them to feel threats like she had in her life, she didn’t want them to be as out of control as she had been, she didn’t want to use and abuse like Finnigan had used and abused her.

“What did you threaten her with?” Lily whispered.

“Exposure. I told her how long they’ll keep her locked up and it seems she rather enjoys her freedom.” Axel shrugged.

“If you exposed her, you’d expose everyone else using this as a haven.”

“Yup.”

Lily groaned at the concept; so many innocents would be affected by that threat if he carried it out.

“Stop complaining. It got us what we need.” Axel scolded.

“At this rate, we’ll be the villains.”

“Lily. Check reality; you are already the villain in everyone’s eyes. You’re the danger and the threat that everyone is hunting and/or scared of. You heard her, the rumours make you sound like ‘death itself’” Axel stared her down, serious in expression and more logical than Lily was letting herself be. “Plus, your plan is to invade settlements, kidnap members of an ancient family and cage them in mouse form until you can force them to give up their life-expanding plots. You better start accepting that you aren’t a ‘good little girl’ anymore and the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.”

“I’m aware of that.” Lily growled.

“Being aware of it and accepting it are two different things.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want to accept it.”

“Then you’ll be butting heads with the world for the rest of your life. Or it’ll destroy you.”

“You’re really not helping my mood.” Lily huffed, leaning her head against Kiki’s feathered body.

“Wasn’t really trying to.” Axel laughed. Pushing himself to his feet, he offered a hand out to Lily. “So, we doing this?”

With a sigh, Lily took the hand offered and pulled herself to her feet.

“Can’t justify turning back now.” She concluded, the weight of Oscar’s lost presence pushing her forward.

With an encouraging nod, Axel led her back to the tavern she had stormed out of. Pyran had moved away from the bar and settled himself in the far corner, his feet up on the table and a steaming mug of drink just within reach.

Liserli raised an unimpressed eyebrow as the two approached the bar. “Show me the names then.” She grumbled, clearly not happy about the fact Axel had managed to threaten her. How exactly he had managed it, Lily couldn’t quite imagine, Liserli looked like she would rather rip out your jugular than be threatened. But the wary gaze she gave Axel suggested he had actually found power over her.

“Thank you.” Lily mumbled awkwardly, pulling out the scroll and spreading it out on the bar for Liserli to peruse.

A mere hum was all the response she received while Liserli pulled the scroll closer and let her lime eyes run over the names on there.

“I take it the ones crossed out in blood red aren’t around anymore?” She asked with a mildly accusing tone.

“No. It seems if any of them go against the war, Quintina or Cyrus wipe them off the family tree.” Lily explained.

“Oh? They kill their own kids?” Liserli seemed genuinely surprised.

“What? You think I did it?” Lily challenged. “I’m seventeen. How could I have gotten to that many people even if I was a killer?”

Liserli surveyed Lily’s irritated expression for a moment before finally chuckling. “You’ve got an attitude, kid. I kinda like you.”

“I’m not sure that’s a compliment…” Lily grumbled, making both Axel and Liserli laugh aloud. These weren’t the kinds of people she thought she would be allied with, but she’d have to take what she could.

“Well, hate to say it but I’m not sure of any of these names,” Liserli turned the scroll back to Lily. “However, I’ve had different names over the years to fool people into thinking I’m not that old; so, I would check out the family in the biggest house in town. They have family members on the town’s council and they own a lot of the property here as well. I think one of the sons is high in the military as well.”

Reaching over she placed the tip of her finger against one of the names on the page: ‘Alexander’. “One of them is nicknamed ‘Lexi’ though it doesn’t match with the name he claims as his birth name. Could possibly be this guy?”

Lily nodded as she examined the name in question. It hadn’t occurred to her that the older members of the Byrne family would be using other names to hide their true identity but now Liserli pointed it out it made complete sense.

“That’s somewhere to start, but how am I going to check a whole family?” Lily mused.

“They’re always hiring maids.” Liserli smirked. “Apparently, the grandmother is very hard to work for and she chases most maids out without a few weeks. Perfect cover for going in and investigating and then leaving so soon?”

“A maid?”

“Yup. She makes them do all the work without magic too, so it won’t be fun.”

“None of this has been fun…” Lily commented dryly.

“Well then!” Liserli smirked. “The oldest sister drinks here, I’ll mention that I have a new lodger who’s looking for some work. Though, you may want to cover that short side of your hair. The magic here works to hide your pointed ears, luckily for you, but anything out of the norm will get you more attention than you want.”

Lily touched the burned side of her head before nodding. She could arrange her hair in a centre parting to cover it.

“And you’ll need a different name, obviously.” Liserli handed over a key to one of the inn rooms and left Lily and Axel at the end of the bar to go and talk to someone else who approached. Lily stared down at the key. Just one? Again. She was expected to stay in the same room as someone else? At least this one wasn’t lying to her face and charming her heart out of her chest.

And he could sleep in tiger form.

“You’re relegating me to the floor, aren’t you?” Axel frowned as though reading her mind.

With a playful, sarcastic grin, Lily turned to him and closed her hand around the key. “I wouldn’t be a bratty sister if I didn’t.” Taking hold of the scroll, Lily headed up the stairs to the far side of the room to search for the room, leaving Axel to finish his mead on his own.