LuckyBlackbird

Everything seemed like it was going to be an ordinary task. Find and catch some water thieves, bring them to Clearwater and collect the reward. They might even get noticed by the water baron. He hates it when someone steals his water. Lily was always ready, carrying a pistol and a rifle. Nobody can outrun a bullet. And then there was Styx. She was just happy to tag along. Carrying a partisan, she too was a formidable fighter. But together they were a feared bounty hunting duo.   They tracked the thieves into the fog to a small cave entrance. The duo was about to take a peek into the cave but were suddenly hit from behind and knocked out. Lily and Styx laid motionless on the ground…   “Lily? Hey, Lily! You’re finally awake!”   Lily made a confused groan. She then realised she couldn’t move. Her back was resting on something warm. She looked around. It was Styx! The two were tied together and were immobilised with rope. “Uuugh, how did this happen?” She looked around again. There didn’t

The young deer was still crying. Everything seemed so hopeless to her. There was simply nothing she could do. Or so it seemed to her. Styx wouldn’t have it. She was determined to calm the youngling down and find out what was happening.   Styx figured she could try showing off her charm. That usually impressed anyone, especially in places where jewellery was scarce. She kind of hoped this was one of those places. She took her necklace and opened it to show the young deer the light. The youngling opened her eyes and looked at the necklace.   “You have a necklace. Where-how? You don’t look like an elder… It’s pretty and shiny. Is it golden?” The deer managed to calm down a bit in that moment. The crying stopped. Styx could work with this.   “Yes, it is indeed made out of gold. But let’s start at the beginning. My name is Styx, what’s your name?”   “My name is Dawn. You must be from far away. The valley hasn’t seen an outsider in a while. You are a highlander, right? You come from the

Once more, into the fog. There was nothing left here. Lily had an idea on where to go, to the place where she fell down that cliff. It wasn’t that far, after all she limped her way from there to the cave.   She made several sips of water from the puddle and ate a lot of grass for the journey ahead.   Lily then reached the fork in the road. The path to the right seemed to lead to a desert judging by the warmer air and grains of sand. And the path forward was where she came from. The dried up river bed. She pressed on.   Walking was so much easier than crawling or limping. At one point Lily tried to check if the river bed was truly dry. She dug a small hole to check for moisture. There was nothing but dry dirt. She left the small hole behind so that it may serve as a lesson to those who would also like to try to search for a drink.   She was there. She arrived to the spot where she was found by that herd. Lily looked up. She couldn’t see the top due to the fog. But it can’t be that high,