Chapter 1 - To where?

‘I’ve been assigned?’ A surprised shout startled the assistant outside the branch manager's office.

‘It just came down from the chief expeditioner.’ The man replied quietly, as if making up for the sudden increase in volume.

‘About time!’ exclaimed a pleased girl who spun on one foot as she spoke.

‘It’s nothing to be excited about,’ said the branch manager, hoping to quell her expectations. It did not work.

‘It’s everything to be excited about! It’s all I’ve been excited about! I’ve never been so excited!’ The branch manager, panic setting in, jumped in before she could say any more.

‘No, you don’t understand - you’re going to Tillany!’

‘Perfect!’ she squealed. ‘I’ve never heard of it!’

‘That’s because it’s tiny.’

‘Lovely,’ she said, balling her hands in anticipation.

‘In the middle of nowhere.’

‘Couldn’t be better!’ she finally sat down, but could not help but tap her feet in tentative jubilation. The branch manager sighed, finally getting to the point that he was dreading.

‘It’s incredibly boring and extremely safe.’ The man was finally able to finish his thrice interrupted introduction.

'Boring?' she asked, her feet no longer tapping. Her palms pressed against his desk as she leaned towards him.

'Yes,' he replied. His expression unchanged.

'Sa…' she only got through half the word, the disbelief caught it before it could escape in its entirety. 'Safe?' she tried again, successfully.

'Yes.'

'Safe and boring?' she repeated, slumping into the chair she had jumped out of seconds before.

'Safe, boring and understaffed.'

'If it’s so safe and boring, how could they possibly be understaffed?' she asked as she crossed her arms, disappointed.

'You’ll be leaving first thing next week,' the branch manager continued, unfazed by her shift in mood.

'No, I won’t,' she said as she got up once again, this time with the intention of leaving.

'It’s unwise to complain,' he advised.

'It’s unwise to tell me what to do.' She approached his desk one more time, taking slow and menacing steps. The branch manager began to feel a little uncomfortable. 'I’m a warrior. I fight things, and I kill them. If you ask me, it’s unwise to send a fighter, a killer, to a village with no fighting or killing. If the chief expeditioner wants me to go to… What was it called?'

'Tillany,' he spluttered.

'If she wants me to go to Tillany, she’ll have to make me.' She stomped out of the room and slammed the door, the assistant remained stoic despite the deafening sound and shaking walls. Almost as if he were expecting it.

As much as the brazen warrior wanted to storm in and shout the ears off the chief expeditioner, the reality looked a little different. She shuffled through the great hall with all the confidence of a rabbit in a fox den. Her fingers clawed at her thighs as she gazed upon the pictures of the previous chiefs that loomed over her like a disappointed crowd.

She nervously knocked on the door and flinched at the echoing sound it made that clattered off the old wooden walls.

'Come in.' Came a measured and patient voice from the other side of the door. Hardly anything to be afraid of. The warrior smoothed her hair nervously and entered. The chief expeditioner was sitting at a large desk, and somehow she dwarfed it. She awkwardly clutched a pen that looked laughably small locked in her humongous hand.

'Hepl, I’m really busy.' She did not even look up.

'Sorry, master.' Hepl, the warrior who had just a moment ago almost toppled a building, was trying to make her stocky frame as small as possible, every word felt like an infringement.

'I told you to stop calling me that.'

'Sorry, master.' Hepl was incapable of calling her anything else. The chief knew this, but kept trying nonetheless. She sighed and finally put the pen down.

'Is this about your deployment?' she asked. She leaned forward on the desk and it groaned. The chief quickly took her weight off it.

'It is,' said Hepl.

'I know it’s not ideal, but they requested help, and your name was next on the list,' she sighed as she picked up the pen once again, signalling the discussion finished.

'Couldn’t you…' began Hepl. The chief slammed the table, interrupting her.

'Think before you speak,' she warned. Her gaze was enough for Hepl to think better of asking. 'Good girl. Now, run along, you’ve got to pack.'

Hepl flopped onto her bed and shouted into the pillow, stuffed with a luxurious blend of feathers and wool. She kicked about for a while when she heard a knock at her door.

'Hepl?' someone called from the other side of the door.

'No,' she shouted back. The stranger came in despite the rejection. It was a short girl, she had curly hair and a worried look on her face. She walked in and jumped on her back.

Hepl yelped at the impact. 'Naien! That hurt…'

'No it didn’t,' replied Naien, she knew she was far too light to cause any pain. She lay with her back on Hepl’s.

'Doesn’t matter that it didn’t,' said Hepl. Pushing her face into the pillow again.

'You’re not the only one being sent somewhere crummy.' Hepl only groaned into the pillow once again. 'I’m serious, I’m being sent to Misdefever. Have you been there? It’s so depressing.'

'At least it has a triple digit population.'

'When do you leave?' asked Naien, ignoring her friend's complaints.

'Monday.'

'Then, we better get to it.'

'Get to what?' Hepl asked.

'Everything, we won’t be here for two years. We need to do everything one more time before we go.'

'Sounds exhausting.'

'You can sleep on your way to… What’s it called?'

'Tillany.'

'You can sleep on your way to Tillany.'

'I can’t sleep in carriages,' whined Hepl.

The large eye bags under Hepl’s eyes on Monday morning marked Naien’s success. The carriage driver kindly packed her bags away as she collapsed in the cabin. It was a simple interior but comfortable enough. Just as she closed her eyes, the carriage began moving, and she groaned as she resigned herself to a sleepless journey.

After five full days of travel, an old and battered sign signalled their arrival at Tillany. Hepl poked her head out the carriage and immediately bashed her head on the window frame as the carriage bounced onto the cobblestone road.

She rubbed her head as she gazed at the village they were approaching, the houses were all small, built of an incredibly dark wood. Their thatched roofs looked bizarre in comparison to the tiles that Hepl was used to seeing. Flowers and plants grew in abundance, gardens were littered in colour, even the side of the road was adorned with adorable white blossoms amongst the sea of vibrant green.

Beyond the village was field and woodland, as far as the eye could see. Rolling hills that seemed to tumble into each other. They rounded a corner and the large hedge that had lined the incoming road gave way to a larger building made of much brighter wood. The carriage stopped outside, and the driver got out. Letting the reins fall slack.

Hepl slipped her head back inside and took some deep breaths. The vast difference between Tillany and the capital was jarring, enough for her to feel nervous.

She climbed out of the carriage, grabbed her bags and thanked the driver who left immediately, uninterested in sticking around such a small and slow village. Hepl watched the carriage leave, the reality setting in.

She pushed the door to the larger building open, allowing light to invade the otherwise unlit room. Well-kept tables and chairs were perfectly placed around the floor, there was a counter and large quest board, the hallmark of a Protectorate branch - the most overwhelming force on the continent. Protectorate had thousands of branches, and tens of thousands of expeditioners, Hepl was a trainee expeditioner. Trained by the Chief Expeditioner herself, the most powerful person on the continent and the most respected.

That prodigious, masterfully trained and extremely talented trainee, dropped her bags to the floor and collapsed into one of the chairs. She sighed, she could not have imagined a worse scenario. The door closed itself, leaving her in the lonely darkness, surrounded by eerie silence. Silence so profoundly alien to someone born and raised in a city that Hepl had to get up to prop the door open so that at least the songbirds were audible.

She had a look around, knocked on some doors. Explored up the staircase and found that no one was in, not a soul. She returned to sitting and placed her head in her hands. She whistled a capital tune to pass the time. Though, she was fast asleep in no time.

The door opened and someone walked in. “Welcome,” said a boy.

“Welcome?” asked Hepl who had woken up and was sharpening her sword. Becoming more and more irate with every pass over the huge blade. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting, where is your branch manager? Do they know they have a job? I don’t care how safe the village is, they could at least turn up to work.”

The boy walked further in, but she still couldn’t make him out due to the darkness.

“Nice to meet you, I’m the branch manager,” he said, his innocent tone infuriated Hepl further.

“Very funny. You’re wearing armour and covered in weapons. Where is the actual branch manager?”

“I assure you, I am the branch manager.” The boy repeated.

“Alright, enough. Let me speak to someone who does not insist on joking around.”

“Alright, I’ll go and get him,” he said, finally letting up.

“Thank you,” said Hepl. Lowering the volume of her voice again.

“No problem,” he said. He walked through the door behind the counter and closed it. A couple of seconds passed, and he walked out again. “Nice to meet you, I’m the branch manager,” he said.

“That’s it,” said Hepl as she moved away from her table and towards him. While giving him a good telling off was her full intention to begin with, her approach had allowed for her to get a better look at him. He had horns on the side of his head, just in front of his temple. A long, thin tail swayed rhythmically behind him, the tip was the shape of an arrowhead. Most importantly, and what had made her pause, was his little, sharp teeth and blue skin where dark blotches seemed to move aimlessly beneath the surface. “Fiend…”

She scrambled back and grasped her sword from the table, freshly sharpened, and hastily launched an attack at the creature calling itself the branch manager. “Actually, it’s Alan,” he remarked as she took her first swing. He dodged it, but the table couldn’t. It spilt dramatically as she stepped over it. “Alright, alright, you got me. It’s Ratley.” Her anger continued to mount, and her next strike split the wall in half. “You’re good at this, fine. It’s Mallory.” She took the sword into both of her hands and assumed a more serious stance, she had underestimated the fiend. “Now, hold on a minute. I was serious this time,” he said, offended by her continued offence.

She ignored him and began her attack with a faint that the fiend fell for. He had to remove a knife from its sheath to parry Hepl’s upswing. Although the parry was fine, Hepl’s strength launched the knife into the air as the fiend stepped quickly backwards, taking on a stance of his own.

He equipped another knife and a mean looking hook. She noticed his stance change and weapon choice and changed her style for a more defensively capable one. She took a few rapid steps closer and, using her superior range, struck out at the fiend with a scouting jab. He knocked her sword to the side with his knife then held it with his hook, he tried to pull it away from her but managed only to wrench his arm painfully. “You’re strong,” he noted.

She pulled the sword back towards her and aimed for a wide swing, it caught on a door frame but slid through it as if it hadn’t. He dodged underneath the sword, and tried to approach, but she had recovered her stance miraculously quickly. She chopped towards him again and began a combination that led the fiend all the way in and around the tables and chairs, she destroyed most of them with ease.

Without a sure way of approaching the girl and her enormous sword, Mallory was out of options. He flipped a table up to obscure himself from her vision, it worked only temporarily as she cleaved it in half. When she saw no one behind it, there was a single moment of confusion that allowed Mallory to catch her arm with his hook and disarm her. Unfortunately for him, she didn’t particularly need the sword, she pulled him towards her and with her other hand, punched him in the face. Blue blood spurted out of his nose and he stumbled backwards, freeing Hepl again. Before he could recover, the sword was on its way, once again, to separate his torso from his legs. Fortunately, she stopped. Mallory shook his head side to side and wiped the blood from under his nose.

“Worth it,” he said. Hepl looked at the unexpected knife at her throat and the long, blue tail that held it. She let her sword, not far from Mallory’s head, fall to the floor.

Mallory looked around the room, it was torn to shreds. “You’re paying for all this damage…” She refused to talk, she was first and foremost confused as to why the fiend had not plunged the knife into her throat already.

“Mal!” Suddenly a shout interrupted them. A girl opened the door, she immediately noticed the broken furniture and scarred walls. “Mal?” she shouted again, more urgently.

“Run!” Shouted Hepl. “Get out of here!”

“What’s happening?” asked the girl as she backed up towards the door.

“I’m detaining a rampaging lunatic,” said Mallory, calmly. The newcomer ventured forward into the building to have a closer look at the scene.

“Who is she? Did you forget to turn the lights on again, do I have to keep reminding you that we can’t see in the dark?” She began slowly walking into the room.

“I think she’s the help I requested, and no, I didn’t forget. I just got here!” Hepl was beyond communication. Not only was the girl getting closer, but the person she was wary of was her - not the fiend.

“Are you sure?” asked the girl as she fell into place alongside Mallory. A quick gaze around the room showed she was right to be sceptical.

“Quite sure, she arrived on schedule and could snap me in two with her bare hands,” he remarked.

“That looks to be the case,” she said. They both marvelled at her giant form. Hepl stood a solid head and a half over Mallory and was built like a small house. She looked like her mortal enemy was door frames, which explained her tenacity when ripping one apart. The large woman in question was beyond reason. “Explain…” she finally said.

“What needs explaining?” asked the girl. “You’re the one that needs to explain!”

“Hold on, I know what she’s talking about,” said Mallory. “My Grandad told me this would happen.”

“He did?” asked the girl with a surprised look.

“Grandad?” asked Hepl, equally surprised for a completely different reason.

“Apparently not all fiends are quite as charming as I am,” he said. Hepl creased her eyebrows. Before she could remark, Mallory continued. “We’re nothing more than beasts to the capital protectors.”

“Beasts?” repeated the girl with a shocked look on her face.

“Monsters,” he confirmed. “Warrior,” he said, addressing Hepl. “Hear it from a resident of the village. I am not a dangerous monster or a feral beast. I am the manager of the Protectorate branch of Tillany.”

“It’s true!” she nodded in confirmation.

“And I requested help as the workload has only increased since my Grandad died and has become more than I can handle alone.” Hepl looked at the girl, who nodded angrily. “If I take this knife away, will you attack me?”

“Not with her here,” said Hepl gesturing at the villager girl. Mallory did not hesitate in removing the knife from her throat and tucked it neatly back into a sheath with his tail. His precision and control over the lengthy appendage captivated Hepl.

“Thanks for coming, Kaf.” He said, after a sigh of relief.

“Sorry, I am a little early,” she said sheepishly.

“For once, I am thankful that you were,” he said with a chuckle.

For just a second there was silence in the room, Hepl let out the breath that she did not know she was holding when the fiend made no moves to attack neither her nor Kaf. All of Hepl’s instincts were telling her not to trust the creature in front of her. The way his tail swayed gently behind him made her extremely uncomfortable now that she knew what it was capable of.

'Do you want me to tuck it away?' asked Mallory, it was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

'Yes,' said Hepl, immediately.

'No! You need to get used to it. Mal is not some creature you barbarian. He’s one of us.' Kaf was steaming mad, her finger pointed directly at Hepl who was taken aback at being called a barbarian.

'I’m not a barbarian,' she said defiantly.

'Look what you’ve done to his house and tell me again that you’re not a barbarian,' fought Kaf, still bubbling furiously. She looked entirely and comically unthreatening next to the battle-scarred Hepl.

'I was acting based on experience!' Hepl was beginning to get defensive, the small girl in front of her was wearing her down.

'Hepl has agreed to fix all the stuff she has broken, hasn’t she?' he said, giving Hepl a lifeline to redeem herself in the eyes of Kaf.

'I have!' she agreed quickly.

'And she is very much looking forward to working for the betterment of the village, isn’t she?' he said again, this time he moved to stand alongside her, causing her to jump a little. She did her best to hold her ground, despite wanting nothing more than to grasp the fiend by his neck and squeeze.

'Isn’t she?' he asked more directly this time, giving her a slight nudge with his elbow.

'Yes, she… I mean, I am.'

'You see, Kaf. We’ll get on fine.'

'I want her to apologise, at the very least, for breaking your stuff.' Hepl had to admit that she was starting to feel bad for the extensive property damage.

'I’m sorry for making such a mess,' she said, looking the devilish fiend in the eyes.

'It’s fine, Kaf breaks almost as much when she’s drunk.' He reached out his hand, looking for a handshake.

'I do not!' Argued Kaf as Hepl considered taking the blue hand before her. 'You better shake it,' said Kaf. Her anger briefly made a return. Hepl quickly took the fiends hand, unwilling to provoke the hot-headed villager any further, not when she’d finally calmed down.

'See if you two can salvage some seating, I’ll check if any of the drinks survived,' said Mallory, turning his back to Hepl.

'That’s what I like to hear!' cheered Kaf as she surveyed the room for surviving benches or seats. Hepl was still clinging on to the trepidation, unwilling to believe quite yet that the imp had absolutely no intentions of the killing kind. She was much too used to seeing them stalking the mountains, unclothed, mouths dripping blood and eyes that looked at you only as prey.

She had heard stories of expeditions to the mountains where fiends would raid the campsites at night, murdering and eating all they could, their small stature allowing for a stealthy entrance and their speed a timely exit. Did anyone working at the Protectorate know about the fiend holding position in Tillany? If they did, why hadn’t they told her? She resolved to write a letter to the chief expeditioner about the situation.

The girls gathered what they could from the fractured wooden furniture as Mallory dragged a couple of the surviving bottles from the floor. ‘Feel’s like you were aiming for the good stuff,’ he commented, spotting the labels attached to the shattered glass.

‘I wouldn’t know the good stuff,’ she rebutted, as if he were serious in his accusation.

‘Don’t have good liquor in the capital?’ asked Kaf.

‘Oh, I’m sure we do, I just wouldn’t know about it. I don’t drink.’ Mallory dropped two bottles on the table. Pouring the first for Kaf and a second for him before handing her the second bottle.

‘Non-alcoholic, you can try it if you want. It’s not poison.’

‘I didn’t think it was poison.’ she scoffed as she took the bottle, but neither Mallory nor Kaf believed her. ‘Made in Tillany?’ She questioned.

‘One of the many things we make here, want to try it?’ said Mallory. Hepl was uncertain, but one look in Kaf’s direction told her she wasn’t going to let her not try it.

‘Sure,’ she said, giving in. Mallory poured the drink, and she took a swig, marvelling immediately at the fresh, vibrant taste. The cleansing sour notes balanced perfectly by the light, refreshing sweetness. She tipped the glass till there was none left. Realising immediately that she was meant to take just a small sip just in case it was poisoned.

‘Any good?’ asked a smug Kaf, knowing the answer.

‘It’s amazing,’ Hepl admitted, grabbing the bottle to pour another. ‘I’ve never had anything like it.’

‘That’s Tillany,’ said Mallory. ‘There’s nowhere like it.’ he puffed his chest out proudly, then took a swig from his own glass. ‘We do things a little differently here, or so I’ve been told.’

‘Do you have a native fruit or something?’ asked Hepl, looking at the ingredients on the back. Mallory took the bottle from her hands with his tail.

‘I’m not talking about the drink.’ He mumbled.

‘You’ll love it here,’ said Kaf. ‘It’s so relaxing, everyone is so lovely.’ Unfortunately, her comment had the opposite effect, Hepl slouched down, leaning her elbows on the table. It creaked under her weight. Mallory quickly lifted his glass, just in case.

‘So I’ve been told.’

‘Most people would be pretty pleased with that.’ said Kaf, not expecting to have dulled the mood.

‘I wasn’t made for relaxing,’ she explained. Mallory nodded his head, but Kaf wouldn’t let it go.

‘Everyone’s made for relaxing,’ she insisted. She was about to continue but received a sharp boot in the shin under the table from Mallory. She yelped and gave him a menacing stare, which he smoothly ignored.

‘How about we let her get some sleep, we can show her around tomorrow?’ he said as he picked up the bottles and glasses to put them away.

‘But, I just got here!’ Kaf complained.

‘Come on Kaf, early night for all of us.’

‘Fine…’’ she mumbled before saying goodbye. The two watched the girl leave before Mallory spoke.

‘I never got your name, by the way.’

‘Hepl.’

‘Hepl, right. Get a good night sleep, you look like you need it.’

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