Vale, Lord Maddox's Occultate, is not far from here. It was at most half a day's journey. But half a day is torture when you're stuck with an annoying Gillian, an annoying Felix and a wailing Warmblood.

"Elysia, remember the time we met three dryads by the old oak tree? It turns out that they have a lot of adventure in them. They asked me to sleep with them! Can you imagine! Of course I said yes, and you know, they can be very flexible. Especially the one with her pigtails. She could totally..."

I try to tell Gillian to shut up by putting on my hood and walking behind.

"We first looked at how many hands could hold my cock. There were three. Of course, when they found out, they were all—"

I take a deep breath through my nose and exhale through my mouth. My hand clenches the fabric of my hood and my steps become more brusque.

"And those rumors that dryads can bounce well are really true. Can't believe how loose those ladies can get!" Gillian's voice rises and he puts his arm around my shoulder.

My eyes are on the back of Felix's head and I could swear I see his shoulders shake.

"I pushed one on the floor and while the other one, you know," he grins and twists a lock of my hair around his finger, "gave me a heartbreaking orgasm, I went completely berserk. Some of the girls may even have bruises from the bumping.'

Just a little while and I'll have to rip his tongue out.

My ears are about to bleed. This is worse than the time I almost drowned.

"Nymphs taste like young daisies, but dryads!" His tongue moistens his lips and he strokes it slowly with his middle finger. It dawns on me why he's doing that and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"They taste like cinnamon—"

"Here we rest!" Felix's voice sounds higher than usual.

Relieved, I sink to the ground and lean against a tree where fairy benches grow in the bark. Felix ties the warmblood to a stone and sits down.

"What a day!" Gillian plops down next to Felix. His scythe scrapes wood from the tree that flutters over Felix. He looks up and then at his brother.

Gillian quickly removes the weapon from his back and smiles apologetically. The warmblood sighs.

"Is it far?" As soon as he says the first word, he cringes. Felix answers before Gillian can open his mouth.

"Madox's territory is adjacent to Count Céres's. We should be there in a few hours."

The warmblood nods, then stares at a point above our heads. His hands fiddle with a loose thread on his collar.

"And what does Lord Maddox want of me—"

"What Lord Maddox wants is none of our business. We're just following his orders," I interrupt.

Felix sighs and gives me an angry look.

The warmblood looks at me with shining eyes. He must have heard the hostility in my voice.

Too late I realize that I showed him an emotion.

"But you are the fearless Wolf." His gaze darts to Gillian, who taps his two fingers to his forehead in greeting. "Snake." Felix stares back. "And Fox." To make up for my earlier mistake, I run my tongue over my teeth and purse my lips.

Now I must choose my words carefully, or the warmblood would find out too much. "We are indeed the Sidus. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't listen to the Ocul."

And for the most part it is. Gillian, Felix and I depend on almost nobody. We do what we want, go where we want and say what we want. But not without risks. I could easily name a handful of elves who had a few more things to do with me. Just a few off the cuff: Julius Maddox, Hayes Céres... Drahzan Delcour. Nobody is innocent. Even the best have been rebellious at times. Even if it's just stealing a piece of fabric to make clothes out of. Stealing is and still remains...stealing. Only we are a bit more difficult when it comes to behavior of an average elf. But of course he doesn't need to know that.

Felix pulls up one leg and rests his arm on his knee.

The Rykar brothers had been my best friends since I landed my first punch. The satyr taking have been irritating me for some time and when he had the nerve to touch my body, I had lunged at him, resulting in a boxing match. I don't know where they came from or how they knew me, but when it looked like I was going to lose—or, yes, when I was just being beaten to the bone—little Gillian threw him off me and attacked him, while Felix scratched my scrapes and fractures treated. Since then they taught me how to save my own skin and let's face it: the apprentice became the master.

"What Elysia means by that," Gillian twirls a coin deftly and tilts his head to watch his own movements closely, "is that we reciprocate. We're doing something for Lord Maddox."

Now his gaze drifts to the warmblood, "and he does something for us."

It's quiet for a while.

The wind makes leaves float like feathers and turns the sky emerald green. Eyes closed, I listen to the song of the rustling leaves and the dull throb of the earth.