FIFTEEN

Lozen pushed it over, stood up and glared at the fallen creature. She was clearly shaken by the last scenario that occurred, she dusting herself free from the elements of the ground.

“You can come down now, dear Ersa. I think the monsters’ dead now,” uttered Lozen.

“Are you sure?” asked Ersa, as she leaped off the tree, before exclaiming “Ow!”

“What is it?” snapped Lozen. She was still on alert, the andranaline boosting through her would be hard to quench easily.

“It bit me. An ant . . . it looks presumably like a Weaver ant.” babbled Ersa. They are found in temperate dense environment like this one. Statistically speaking, they are vast in the knowledge of building their home with leaves and—”

“Oh Please shut up! I don't fucking care about ants or whatever it is you're rambling about,” interjected Lozen. “Since this awkward business is over, I'm getting the hell out of here. You can thank me later for saving you from entering the underworld too early,”

“What are you saying? Please I don’t think we're done yet, there's still some—” said Ersa, before her voice trailed off, she was quite the shy, introverted sort of mortal.

“What in Hera’s name do you mean by that? We killed the lamia. Correction! I killed the lamia. We’re free to go our separate ways. Even though you’re clearly in my debt after I saved your life, but I do not care about those sorts of things.”

“Wait! I didn't tell you the whole truth,” said Ersa curtly. “The Lamia in ancient history was firstly a mere woman, who became a monster after her children were destroyed by Hera . . . Mother Hera did that because she learned of the Lamia’s secret affair with her own mate. Filled with rage Hera also afflicted the Lamia with sleeplessness so she could anguish constantly day and night . . .”

“Spare me the history lesson. Hera is a jealous bitch, what else is new?”

“Yes! But we weren’t just on a mission to deliver a flimsy message; I wasn’t in a group of errand girls . . . So we found it odd as we found traces of the Lamia eating and killing people along the major path from Juventas to Minerva, so we decided to neutralize them,” said Ersa, her voice was squeamish, like the shrills of squirrels.

“Them?! —You said them. So there's more than one of this snaky thing?”

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to tell you. There is more than one, yes. It looks like Mother Hera didn’t kill all the Lamia’s children, the ones that survived are cursed like their mother and they’ve lived among mortals since the goddesses were in the mortal realm. We tracked down two of this creatures; one of them apparently just attacked us . . . Their plan was to infiltrate the royal palace, take control of it, and rain terror on all mortals of our realm, in revenge for Hera killing their mother and siblings,” explained Ersa. “They want absolute control. So they would presumably go for the Regent Nakano firstly,”

“Well that's bad. But I guess the Regent can handle herself,”

“You don't seem to understand the magnitude of this. The Lamias are creatures that can shape- shift, changing forms just as one changes its linen,”

“You lied to me after all. How can I be sure anything you say now wouldn't be false?” asked Lozen.

“A secret mission, you see, is meant to be secret.” replied Ersa. “But, trust me when I say, I won't lie to you again. I can't surely stop all this by myself. I can't trust anybody, and you're very equal to the task, a testimony is the dead creature lying on the ground with a spear in its eyes,”

“Ah! There's no such thing as trust. How can you trust who I am, when you don’t even know my name, dear Ersa,” said Lozen curtly, her eyebrow furrowed up in plain curiosity.

“Yes that's true; I do not know your name . . . But by the tiny cuts on your body, it tells me you've been running in the forest for quite some time.” Ersa paused, encircling Lozen like a blood hound sniffing out prey. “Your hair isn't properly cut, signifying you don’t tend to care about your outlook or appearance. Your sandals and clothing looks like that of a prisoner . . . Presumably Mouk prison, due to its proximity from here . . . Ergo, you're a prisoner who’s on the run after escaping from the Mouk prison,”

“Oh! A smart ass . . . what are you, a genius or something?” asked Lozen.

“Maybe, something of that kind. I can identify different consistent patterns, and I have a good memory that rarely forgets anything,” replied Ersa, her silver colored eyes glistened.

“Those are the services you rendered to the City's secret forces. You're like a living-breathing records book for storing long boring important data,”

“You can say that,” replied Ersa.

“So where do we go from here?”

“We have to go south. Past this silviculture, and the Zerosepta stream that never runs dry, into the City’s capital named Polias, then head towards the royal palace where the Regent is.”

“Oh! There's a stream that never dries between my thighs now,” said Lozen amusedly, making Ersa cheeks blush so hard it turned red, her lips were pouched and speechless.

“Uhm, I have to find out why you’re actually helping me. Obviously you can knock me down and make a run for it; I know you’re not doing it from the kindness of your heart. What’s in it for you? I can't seem to decipher the reason,” asked Ersa, finally finding the courage to speak.

“But there is a reason, its freedom of course. The physical kind—not the spiritual kind. I strongly believe there’s no such thing as true freedom. This here is an opportunity to save the Regent and in turn, I’ll ask her to grant me physical freedom from running and hiding like a criminal, in exchange for helping you. Then I wouldn't have to fear or look over my shoulders like an animal, it will be amnesty.” said Lozen.

Moments later, and they were on their way, out of the mild silviculture. It’s green blanket behind them, like the pain of the past. The Zerosepta stream was shallow and easy to surmise, but as they approached Polias, the capital of the City of Minerva, they realized they had to sneak in to get around the guards unseen. Ersa knew the city’s defense strategies, she had memorized the streets, and the period when the guards rested and patrolled around in their shiny metal armor.