A Bored Lich

An hour before the morning's light would pierce the clouded sky, Thomas found himself staring blankly into his quiet homestead with an ivory lockbox tightly tucked under an arm. Everything seemed smaller than he remembered. He creaked the front door shut and let out a sigh. Two days had never felt so short.

"Morning," Elero greeted him as she sat on the stairs descending to the courtyard.

"Morning," Thomas yawned. He scanned the courtyard and frowned. "Doevm said to meet here. Where is he?"

"Late again, apparently," Elero shrugged. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. Thomas assumed she was cold, but thought against it after he plopped down next to her.

Her emerald green dress, fur running along the edges, hung loosely over a gray underlayer; Simple, elegant, and quality, clothes fit for nobility. Thomas gestured to it: "Have you worn this before?"

"No. It always got caught in my gears," Elero said. Turning towards Thomas, her gaze lingered on his lockbox. "What's the deal with that?"

Thomas lightly shook the lockbox and smiled as he heard the metallic jingling within. His smile faded as fast as the jingling. "Father has never given me this much before. He usually makes me stay home."

Elero nodded without looking at him: "That's great."

"Maybe, but more likely I think he knows it's not safe at the house anymore."

"That's great," Elero repeated as she continued to tap her foot.

"He also turned into a Lava Boar and tried to eat me."

"That's great."

Thomas scrunched up his lips, raised the lockbox, and shook it next to her ear. "Wake up!"

As soon as he had done it, he felt a cold shiver travel down his spine. He blinked and he was coughing on the ground, clutching his chest.

Elero rubbed at her ear: "What the hell, Thomas? Trying to make me deaf?"

"I was trying to get your attention," Thomas coughed. For the first time, he was glad he was already dead.

"Oh, sorry, where are my manners?" Elero said before she launched her shoes at him. "Jerk!"

Thomas dodged them both: "Sorry!" He braced for anything else she might throw at him.

"Whatever. Just get my damned shoes. It's cold out."

Thomas found her shoes at the other side of the courtyard. "You know, you threw those pretty hard," he said as he walked back.

"I was trying to hit you."

Thomas hesitated to hand her shoes back as, at the risk of annoying her further, he asked, "Are you ok?" 𝗳𝗿𝐞ℯ𝙬𝗲𝗯n𝗼νel.𝒄𝑜𝘮

"No."

"Want to talk about it?"

Elero shook her head and took her shoes back. "Thanks."

Thomas plopped down next to her. "No problem." He glanced back at the front door. 'Doevm being late was one thing, but Frey and Olpi too? Maybe I should get Jameson to check on them.'

"Think the War Monks did something again?" Elero asked as if she could read his mind.

Thomas shook his head. "Doevm is strong, and now that Jameson is on alert, I doubt anything could touch my father. What about your family? Do you have anything that can counter War Monk spies?"

Cold water dripped from the jagged icicles hanging above their heads. Elero's taps became louder. "We have a few knights, but after the incident with my brother, my father grew very paranoid."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Thomas shrugged.

"Maybe. Ever ridden a wyvern before?"

Thomas raised an eyebrow. "No…Why?"

"Just wondering."

"Are you about to kidnap me or something?"

Elero chuckled. "Well, you are holding a large amount of money for the world to see."

Thomas took the hint and put the lockbox in his spatial ring. "Thanks. How far is it to your family's estate?"

"A bit far for a carriage. A short flight for a wyvern," Elero mused. "You're not afraid of heights are you?"

Thomas chuckled. "No, but Frey is."

They both shared a wicked smile as the front door opened. Out walked Doevm. The bags under his eyes were gone, but he was drenched from head to toe. Olpi and Frey followed at a distance.

"That was kind of mean," Olpi said to Frey, who laughed as he tossed an empty bucket into his spatial ring.

"Maybe, but it was fun," Frey said.

Doevm looked at both Thomas and Elero, who struggled to stifle their chuckles: "Frey decided a refreshing shower would wake me up. I promise my tardiness will not become a habit. Olpi, if you don't mind."

Olpi nodded, dried him off with a quick spell, then hurried through the courtyard. "I'll fetch the carriage."

"And Frey," Doevm added. "You may want to sleep with an eye open from now on."

Frey shrugged.

A few minutes later, the group had piled into the carriage, and a pair of guards opened the exit gate. Olpi whipped the reins. Petal Town's dreary homes, and the Virility estate standing tall above them, became a distant view through an icy window.

"So, are we still going to the Mech estate?" Olpi asked. She peeked through a tiny window, which was built into the wall between the driver's seat and the carriage's interior.

Doevm pulled out a map of the region. "Slight change of plans. First, we need weapons, and I know just the Dwarf to make them."

Thomas paused. "That's it? We're just going to swing by a blacksmith?"

Doevm nodded. "It does not matter if we find the spy if you lack the tools to dispose of him. Why do you ask?"

"Plain and simple?" Thomas insisted, nausea taking root in his gut. As much as he liked Doevm, with him, nothing was ever simple. Elero and Frey could also tell; They exchanged worried looks.

Olpi cleared her throat: "So you guys know this Dwarf? Is he nice, like Menla?"

"Nah," Frey said. "He's a mean old grump. He also gets really mad when you call him short. I'd show him up, but I don't want to bully him."

"Oh, that's too bad," Olpi lamented. "May I get the map so I know where I'm going?"

Doevm passed the map to her. "The Bloodwood Forest, right here."

Olpi blinked twice. "Bloodwood?" she repeated. "Why is it called that?"

"If you get a single cut, the forest will try to drain the blood from your body," Doevm explained. "Make sure you stop a mile outside of it."

"And the blacksmith is at the center of this extremely dangerous forest? There's nowhere else we can go?"

"He's good at what he does," Elero said. "Besides, as long as you don't trip, you'll be fine."

"You've met him too? Ok, to the bloodwood." Olpi let out a defeated sigh. She shut the window and continued onwards.

Elero turned towards Doevm. "Doevm, just to check-"

"We will head to your family's estate right after," Doevm assured her.

"Ok, just checking."

Elero asked that question once every few hours of travel, around the campfire as they cooked dinner, while packing up the campsite to continue onwards, all the way until they arrived at the outskirts of the Bloodwood forest. Doevm never got annoyed, and answered her the same every time. Thomas, however, began to wonder. 'If the War Monks moved against my father that quickly, what's stopping them from attacking her family just as fast?'