4

With a quiet curse, Lira pulled an arrow out of the quiver strapped to her leg and rested it against her bow.

The voices were getting louder. It sounded like a group of at least four to seven people, assuming there weren't more trailing along in silence behind. Anyone who wandered into Wild lands while its Rupture was still open was either stupid or extremely well prepared, and with a group that size, Lira wasn't about to take chances.

Lira glanced at Shari, then flicked her gaze up to the trees. Shari got the hint and climbed up the closest tree, quickly disappearing among the branches.

That took care of problem number one: hiding the giant blue spirit cat.

Problem number two was locating the group without them spotting her.

Lira crouched low in the long, lush grass around her and pulled her cowl up further over her head. The dark fabric wouldn't hide her entirely as she stalked towards them, but it was a lot less obvious than a human head.

She almost hoped the group were poachers. It sounded cathartic, the idea of being able to take shots at them from up in the trees, picking them off one by one and hanging around to see what plant ate them first. Their whole profession was a plague, and she was more than happy to do her part in removing it.

Her steps were quiet in the thick Wilds grass. She still couldn't see the group yet, but their voices were louder. Close enough to catch parts of their conversations. She pulled herself up into the lower branches of a tree with darker coloured bark, a few metres off the ground concealed from the ground by a nice, bright clump of leaves.

"--can't believe, after all that talk about how much you'd studied them, that the first one you see, you immediately go up to it and try to get a sample, not realising that it was going to try and eat you."

"It wasn't my fault!" replied another voice. "They look different in the books!"

Lira rested the arrow on her bow. She could see the first of the group now, a tall, unkempt man covered in an assortment of spiritsteel weaponry, but honestly, they were all so obnoxiously loud she probably could have closed her eyes and still hit them.

"Maybe this'll be good for you," said a third voice. "Actually getting outside and seeing all this stuff you're always trying to 'teach' us about and realising, that just maybe, following the steps in your master guide of identifying a carnivorous plant isn't always a guarantee."

"You're still just mad about that one time I had to pull the Trynavont's teeth out of your arm, Arden."

Lira froze.

She knew that name, but there was no way--

Before she had a chance to finish the thought, a bird-like spirit landed in a branch above her and turned its eye on her. She stared back at it as it came lower, hopping down the branches one at a time until it was level with her head.

The spirit wasn't just a bird.

It was a hawk, and she recognised it.

The hawk gave her a friendly squawk in greeting before it took off around the trunk of the tree, announcing its find to the group with an excruciatingly loud screech.

Lira shoved her arrow back in its quiver with a curse.

It was worse than poachers.

It was another spirit hunter.

She leaned back against the tree trunk, running a gloved hand down her face and wondered if it was too late to run. If she climbed higher up the tree fast enough, she might be able to get out of sight, somehow hide from that goddamn hawk and its apparently tree-piercing vision.

"Why?" she muttered, asking no one in particular. "Why do you do this to me?"

Lira glanced down at the group on the ground. At least she'd been right about one thing. There were six in the group, and they were well past the standard for prepared. With one spirit hunter, two spirit mages, two other fighters who were armed to the teeth, and a guy at the back with a giant bag holding the map, there were few things that would give them trouble in the Wilds.

The hawk landed on the outstretched arm of the spirit hunter, a well-muscled man with dusky blonde hair that was always styled perfectly, even when he was out in the Wilds. His weapons matched her own, with a bow clutched in his hand, a quiver at his side, and a variety of spiritsteel knives in belts across his body. In addition to his leathers--also similar to hers, only far newer--he wore a few pieces of styled spiritsteel armour across his forearms, biceps and shins.

And then there was the cloak. While hers was dark and plain, his was edged in an iridescent pale blue--the colour of the spirits that marked him for what he was.

As if the star-shaped spirit mark smack-bang in the centre of his forehead didn't do that already.

"Hey, you up in the tree!" he said as he walked closer. "You gonna come down?"

"Thought I'd stay up here, honestly," Lira called back. "Please continue on, don't let me distract you."

"I don't suppose you want to tell me why you're up in a tree?" he called, stopping below her. "I'll need you to--wait, Lira? Is that you?"

With a huff, Lira pulled down her cowl. "Would love to say that it's nice to see you, Arden, but we both know I'd be lying."

"Honestly, I'm just surprised to see you at all," said Arden. "We just figured you were dead."

"You always did have high expectations for me," said Lira. "Though I guess I could say the same about you. It's a mystery how you haven't been trampled by the crowds yet. Arin must be working overtime."

As she said his name, the hawk on Arden's arm took flight towards her. Lira held her arm out, allowing him to settle before she drew him closer and offered a scratch with a wiggled finger. Arin bowed his head, giving an appreciative squawk as she gently ran her fingers through his feathers.

"It's good to see you though, Arin," murmured Lira. "It's just too bad you come as a package deal."

"Wait," said Arden, glancing around. "Where's Shari?"

Lira smirked. "Oh, you know. Around."

Right on cue, the branches above Arden erupted as a giant, waist-height spirit cat pounced from on high and knocked him to the ground.

"That's what, thirty-one points for Shari, two for Arden?" called Lira as Shari nuzzled her nose against Arden's cheek and licked his perfect hair. "Your reactions are really slipping without me around." She looked at his group, still standing around and glancing at each other as the map-guy furiously scribbled in a notebook. "Is that why they gave you bodyguards? Can't let their prize spirit hunter get himself killed in some pesky Wild lands?"

Arden managed to get out from beneath Shari, giving her an affectionate, if cautious, pat on her shoulder as he dusted himself off. "Precautions. They won't let us out alone anymore with everything going on, which you'd know if you ever showed up at the guild. What have you even been doing?"

Shari turned her attention up to the tree where Lira sat, Arin still on her arm. The hawk tilted his head at Lira, who smiled and launched him into the air. Arin swooped down towards Shari, and the two spirits proceeded to chase each other through the nearby trees.

"Nothing that you'd find interesting," replied Lira, swinging her leg over the branch and finding her way down to the ground. "Guessing you guys are here to close the Rupture?"

"That is the goal, yes."

"Perfect," said Lira, tugging at her glove. "Then I'll leave you to it."

"What do you mean, 'leave us to it'?" asked Arden.

"I mean that even you don't need two spirit hunters to close a Rupture, so I'm gonna go do things elsewhere. Bye!"

Arden ran a hand through his hair, eyes on the canopy above them. "The guild will want you back at the capital. There's a few… well, developments they'll want to catch you up on."

"No thanks."

"Spirit hunters are going missing, Lira," said Arden. She just kept looking at him. He clenched his jaw. "Not that I expect you to care or anything."

Lira pulled her cowl up over her head as Arden kept going.

"Did you even know?" he said. "While you're off doing whatever the hell it is you do for months, the rest of the guild is worrying whether they're gonna get murdered by a Wastelander party that crossed the border, or picked off by a group of poachers."

Lira narrowed her eyes at him. "Funny how you're only concerned about those things now they're a direct threat to you. I seem to remember a time where you were too busy peacocking around in front of the royals to care what happened outside the city."

"I was following orders, just like you were supposed to be doing!" said Arden. "And now look at you, hiding in the forests, ignoring everyone else."

Lira slung her bow across her back and started walking away. "I'm dealing with my own problems already."

"By the sovereign spirit, you're selfish," he muttered. "I'm not usually one to question a spirit's decision, but sometimes I wonder why Shari even bothers with you."

The words stung more than she cared to admit.

Lira stopped and turned back to glare at him. "You wanna say that again?"

He held her gaze. "You heard me."

Lira strode up to him and stabbed him in the chest with a finger. She barely came up to his chin, but she didn't let that stop her. "You have no idea about anything, Arden. I'm not coming back to the capital. You and the rest of that damn guild can go and die for all I care, along with the rest of the Kingdom."

She wasn't sure who looked more uncomfortable--the two spirit mages who seemed to be trying to hide behind the head of their staves, throwing each other awkward glances, or the guy with the map behind them, fiddling with his glasses.

At least the two fighters seemed to be enjoying the show, even if she wanted to slap the smirks off their faces.

"Fine," snapped Arden. "Run off to the forest for all I care. I'll even tell the guild you quit, since you never seem to be able to do it."

"They're the ones who won't let me quit," said Lira, which shut him up for two seconds. "Guess they didn't tell you that though, right?"

"Will you two shut up?" said one of the fighters with an exaggerated groan. The man she'd first seen, the unkempt one who had not only weapons on him, but traps. "If you're gonna leave, girl, then shut it and leave. On the way out, if you could stop your beast from stalking us, that'd be fantastic."

Lira swapped her gaze to the fighter. "If Shari was stalking you, you wouldn't know about it until you were dead."

The fighter scoffed. "I've fought things bigger than your cat, girl. You'd be lucky if I didn't kill her."

Lira had her hunting knife drawn and was two steps towards him when Arden grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"Ed, you're lucky that I don't stab you for that comment, let alone whatever she'd do," said Arden, releasing Lira only when she sheathed her knife again. Arden looked at her, a distasteful truce in his stare. "If that wasn't Shari following us, then there's another spirit to worry about here. I'd appreciate it if you could accompany us to the Rupture, at least."

She wanted to refuse. To just leave them all here and walk away--but if there were a greater spirit around, she had an obligation.

And looking at the fighter, still staring at her with that slimy grin on his face, Lira suddenly didn't trust anyone but herself to watch him.

"Fine," said Lira. "But only to make sure Arin is safe." She glared at the fighter. "Don't expect me to stop the spirit if it tries to take a bite out of him, either."

"As long as you're not the one after him, I'm sure he'll be fine," said Arden. He whistled for Arin, who swooped down from a nearby tree and landed on Arden's arm, closely followed by Shari. "Let's go."

The group began to move, Shari falling into step at Lira's side.

Only once did the fighter glance back, fixing his eyes on Shari before tapping the pommel of his sword, giving Lira a meaningful smirk.

Shari growled in response, baring her fangs.

The fighter only laughed, slapping the other fighter on the back as he went back to the conversation, and Lira made a silent promise that if he gave her even the slightest excuse, she'd make sure he never left the Wilds again.

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