Lil nerva's Arc

Chapter 5 of 4

The elf woman was gone. Lil Nerva stood on the far side of the cut and turned a full circle. No braids, no green tunic, only grass bending in the wind. The woman had handed her the vial, then slipped away while the mist still glowed. She was the only ally Lil Nerva had beyond the wall. Without her, she faced the warlord's house alone, blind to what waited there. She knelt and found a single boot print pressed into the mud, pointed away from the road. She needed someone who could follow that trail. Hours later she found a half-elf tracker crouched at a stream near the treeline, reading the ground the way others read a page. Kya wore a worn leather vest and a dagger at her hip. A white wolf lay beside her, calm, one eye blue and one green. "You're the green woman the raiders are hunting," Kya said, not looking up. "Your print's heavier on the left. You favor a hurt leg." "I'm looking for someone," Lil Nerva said. "An elf. Pale braids. She vanished at the cut in the rocks." Kya finally stood. She studied Lil Nerva's face, then the dagger at her belt. "Vanished people cost extra. What's she to you?" "She gave me something. I need to know why." Lil Nerva set two coins in Kya's palm. "And I need to reach the warlord before his men wake him." The wolf lifted its head. Kya watched it, then nodded. "He trusts you. That's rare." She pocketed the coins. "Come. The elf passed through here before you did." Kya led her along the stream, reading broken stems and turned stones. The trail bent toward a tree with a house grown into its trunk, wooden rooms wrapped around living branches. A soft light burned in a high window. Kya raised a hand and stopped. "She's inside," Kya whispered. "But she's not alone. Boots came and went. Heavy ones. Raider boots." Lil Nerva climbed the wooden steps. The door stood open. Inside, the elf woman sat at a table, calm, her hands folded. Pale braids. Green tunic. She did not rise. "You followed faster than I thought," the elf said. "You sent me past that checkpoint," Lil Nerva said. "Right into his road. Why?" "Because the warlord fears the dagger your mentor carried." The elf's voice stayed even. "I was your mentor's friend, long ago. When the warlord turned on him, I promised to put the blade where it could cut. You are the blade now." "You let the raiders see the mist." "I did. They ran to tell him a shadow slipped the wall. His house is half-empty tonight, chasing it." The elf stood. "He sleeps behind the hill, in a metal shelter with one door. His guards are at the checkpoint. This was the only hour you'd ever have." Lil Nerva's hand tightened on the dagger. The elf had risked her life, not stolen it. "You could have told me." "You wouldn't have trusted a plan," the elf said. "Only a door. Go. The hour is short." Kya led her over the hill through the dark. Below sat a sleek metal shelter, rounded like an egg, soft light rimming its single door. Two guards slumped by a cold fire. The wolf growled low. Kya touched its neck and it fell silent. "Door's that way," Kya breathed. "I'll hold the fire-side. The wolf takes the first man who wakes." She met Lil Nerva's eyes. "Finish it. For whoever they burned." Lil Nerva crossed the open ground low and fast. The first guard stirred. The wolf struck, dragging him down without a sound. The second reached for his crossbow. Kya's thrown dagger caught his shoulder, and he dropped. Lil Nerva pushed through the metal door. Inside, the warlord sat up in his bunk, reaching for a blade on the wall. He was smaller than she had pictured, gray at the temples, eyes wide in the glow. "You," he said. "The teacher's dog." "Her student," Lil Nerva said. He lunged. She turned the blow and drove the ancient dagger up under his ribs. He gripped her arm, then let go. His weight settled against her, and she lowered him to the floor. The men he had sent to burn children, the students she had buried, all of it narrowed to this one still room. She wiped the dagger and stepped out into gray dawn. Kya waited with the wolf, breathing hard. The elf stood on the hill above them, watching, then turned and walked into the trees. Lil Nerva did not chase her. The debt was paid, the blade was clean, and for the first time since the yard burned, no one was hunting her. She sheathed the dagger, nodded to Kya, and walked back toward the wall as the sun came up.