The Lilliad, chapter 6

“No.” Lilli said, immediately. “I thought you would be fixing this on your own. I’m not that good. And I  don’t want to be near those things anymore.” 

Fangs opening, and the reek of death-

She shook her head. “It was too much for me. I’m just a street kid. You should find somebody else.”

Elathor was befuddled. Their mouth hung slack. She noted that they, too, had fangs. Lilli fought off a shudder. 

“Lilli, please. I think you can do this. You’re talented, and we have to save these people.” Elathor took a step closer to her. 

Lilli stepped back. 

“I don’t like people much,” she countered. “On the whole, they’ve been awful. I don’t want them to die, but I’m not deluded enough to think that I have what it takes to help them, and I don’t really feel like they’re great, either. 

Elathor huffed. “What about me? I saved your life.”

“And commented on me like I was an interesting specimen.” Lilli shot back. The exit was behind her. She had her things with her, and she could disappear into the streets easily. 

Still, she didn’t bolt. 

Elathor put their hands up, surrendering. 

“I shouldn’t have talked about you like that.” They said calmly. “And I apologize for assuming so much of you. This situation is scary, and I can see why you would like to avoid it.”

Lilli steadied herself on her feet. Their voice was very calming.

And honestly, Elathor and the other witch had probably been the nicest people she’d met since her family died. 

That was a hard truth to take. She didn’t want to lose that kindness, as recent as it was. Even if it was conditional, it filled a gaping hole in her insides. 

Maybe that said too much about her. 

Maybe that says too much about the world you live in.

“You don’t deserve to have to do this.” Elathor said, and she could tell they were being careful not to move too much and spook her. They were treating her a bit like a wounded animal. 

Maybe she was.

“But these people don’t deserve to die, either.” Elathor pointed out. “And you have the ability to help save them. I know you can do it. Would you consider helping me to try?”

She turned that over in her head. It made a sort of sense. It was a foreign concept, involving other people’s well-being over her own. It sounded nice. 

But it wasn’t the kind of person life had shaped her into.

Lilli turned and fled, leaping over books and silk worms and out the door, into the cool air of dusk. 

She was practiced at losing followers, and instinct took over. 

A few minutes later, Lilli found herself on top of a rickety building a few streets away. She stared up at the sky, willing the stars to come out. 

Was it worse, that she was sure that Elathor hadn’t even tried to follow?

Lilli sat down on the roof and refocused her attention on the streets below. This was a residential area, evidently. There were children playing in the streets. Families walking in groups. 

Her heart panged. 

She looked back up. The stars should be out, soon. Lilli waited for the last little light of the sun to die out. 

“I thought I saw you up here.” A voice said. 

Lilli jerked up and onto her feet, quickly unsheathing her daggers. She spun around. 

Right in front of where she had been sitting was the witch from the shop. 

Lilli’s eye twitched. She didn’t want to hurt this woman. But this was scary. She hadn’t heard anyone coming up, and the badly-maintained state of these roofs made it almost impossible to walk on them without causing squeaking or clattering. 

Or falling straight into someone’s home. 

Lilli said nothing. The witch was obviously powerful. She didn’t even look like she’d shimmied up a drainpipe, which is what you had to do to get up here.

Unless you use magic.

“No, no magic necessary.” The woman smiled, warmly. 

It didn’t make Lilli feel better. Either the witch could read thoughts, or was better at reading Lilli’s reactions than she’d hoped. 

"No, I can't read minds, either. It's just an obvious question." The witch gracefully sat, with her back facing Lilli. She was looking up at the sky.

Lilli looked up, to see that the stars were finally out, twinkling and dancing. 

"They're having a good old time tonight," The woman said under her breath. Then, to Lilli, "Care to put your pointies away and talk?"

She didn't care to do that, really, but Lilli didn't feel like she was in any position to object. She sheathed her daggers slowly, lingering with her fingers on the hilts. 

The woman patted the roof tiles next to her, still looking up.

Lilli took those few steps cautiously. It felt like a trap. Why would this woman follow her? What did she want? And why follow Lilli here, and not catch her somewhere else?

Standing was awkward, but that's what she did. If the witch wanted to attack her, Lilli would have a better chance of getting away if she wasn't sitting down. 

"It's all right if you don't want to sit." The woman said. "I just want to show you something."

Lilli waited. 

The woman gestured up at the sky, filled with diamond-like stars. "The gods are so capricious, you know."

Lilli was aware.  

"But sometimes, they do get their heads out of the clouds. They decide they don't like something down here and they set out to change it. Well, more like they set someone else out to change it." The witch huffed. 

 She ran her fingers through her curly hair, and Lilli noticed many little rings on her fingers, glinting in the starlight. 

"I figure that's where you came in." The witch said, turning to face Lilli directly for a moment, before facing away again. 

"I'm pretty sure I would know if a GOD blessed me." Lilli said, too irritated to bite it back.  "If you hadn't noticed, I've had a really bad record with luck."

The woman waved Lilli's' reaction away. "You're in the right place, at the right time. You live, when so many people don't.  Even if you're not blessed, it starts to seem like it, doesn't it?" The woman paused. "Sometimes the idea of a thing is just as powerful as the real thing itself."

"So you're saying, I should be running face-first at monsters because I had a really bad day yesterday?" Lilli felt lost and more than a little railroaded. First Elathor, and now this lady. Next thing she knew, a messenger from the King was gong to come to tell her that she was the city's only hope. 

It all seemed like fairy-tale bullshit. 

"Not face-first, no. You have a very tiny face." The woman said matter-of-factly. "But you have a skill set and knowledge that many don't."

"What is it that I know?" Lilli bit out. 

The woman just huffed in amusement. "Don't be obtuse. You saw the Ktharyis in those tunnels. You know they're killing people. And you know it will only get worse."

Lilli conceded the obvious point. "So what if I do? Maybe I should just leave the city."

The woman shrugged. "You could do that.  No one will stop you. But it does seem likely that if the Ktharyis get started in a city this size, they'll follow you wherever you go. There are a lot of people here. If even half of them become infected, that would be enough Ktharyis to destroy the known world."

Lilli.... hadn't thought about that. It was true, the city was colossal. There were so many districts, and cities under the city built out of ruins. There were farmers on the outskirts that brought in their food to sell. 

There were a lot of corpses walking, as she saw it. 

Her mouth tasted bitter.