The Lilliad pt. 2

 She didn't know long she floated there- it felt like forever, but couldn't have been. Her body ached and stung. Something in her leg was broken, for sure.   

 But she didn't want to just lie here and die. If she didn't move, she might still end up food for that Thing.

...or maybe it would lay eggs in her. 

Somehow the thought managed to rouse her enough to turn her stomach. Her abdomen flinched, muscles contracting in violent protest. Gross, gross. Not only did she not want to die, but it turned out she did not want to die that that in specific. 

The panic in her brain was finally making a connection back to her unresponsive body. That first twitch had been a crack in whatever had been separating her into the fearful part and the still part.

She could see that her right hand and arm was red. When she turned her head, the left one matched. That explained the pain there.

 1, 2...  A sudden flashing memory of the Thing's eyes boring into hers distracted her. She mentally shook it away.      

3, 4, 5, 6... 

 And the feeling it had given her- it was hunger and hate and something else. It had been overwhelming, even before it had somehow bewitched her. For a few seconds, she had been so... relaxed with its presence. At least that explained how other people could get killed. That had been-

her heartbeat picked up again and the air shuddered in her throat. She had to shut off her mind again to cope with the horror of her fear. But as soon as she took a shuddering breath, the thought came back.

-that had been close.

She thought about the body she had seen. That could have been her. It had just been- it was stupid luck and her sticky fingers. The only difference between her and that corpse was the daggers she had been holding in the brief window of awareness in which she'd had to save herself.

The worst part was that she was totally aware that it would be featuring in her dreams for a long, damn time.  

She tried to count again. Where was she at? 10? She was spotty on the numbers that came after. There was ten, and then ten more. Whatever. 

 It was time to get out of the water if she was about to get introspective on her shitty education.   

Lilli rolled her shoulder and then turned in the water to her front, and dog paddled back to the side. It was haaaard getting out of the water. Every muscle in her body was Not Interested in this activity, tensed and sore. She babied her right leg, carefully lifting it over the stones and not letting it drag. She scooted backwards on her ass again, and poked at her red, bloody knee.   

 Mistake! 

 Shit, that hurt. She stared at it. She probably couldn't walk all the way home like that. She needed to wrap it for support, at least. But she wasn't really the kind of person who just had extra cloth lying around.  She looked down at her long, threadbare tunic and foot wraps. Whatever that Thing had gotten on her had not improved their quality- there were now little holes wherever its blood had spattered on her, showing red and blistered skin.   

 “The first thing I'm going to do with that money is buy some fucking pants.” She said bitterly, looking at the gory mess on her knee. Bone was poking out a bit, for fuck's sake. “And shoes. And underwear. And a new shirt.”   For now, though, she unwound what was left of the wrappings on her feet. She rinsed them in the water again, before winding them fairly tightly around her knee. Her hands felt tight and painful, but she couldn't wrap them, too. They'd just have to wait.   

 Once finished, Lilli maneuvered to stand, favoring her not-fucked-up left leg. She limped back over to the Thing and picked up her old dagger, wiping it on the cleanest-looking part of the dead guy's clothes.  Hadn't she used two daggers? She felt down to her waist, where one of the new daggers' sheaves lay empty. Well, ok then. It had to be around somewhere. She looked around.   

 Oh, ew. It was under the Thing. She grimaced, both in general pain and the distaste of having to go back to maybe touch it.   

 She didn't want to crouch, but crawling on the ground with her knee would be worse. She winced and gritted her teeth through the pain, and crouched on her left leg. She left her right mostly extended, so it wasn't hurting as much.    Walking home was going to be a nightmare. Hopefully she didn't get mugged and stabbed. She was presenting far too good of a target at the moment. Obviously injured and armed wasn't a great combination for avoiding general pickpockets, the gangs, or the guards.   

 If she was incredibly lucky, they'd think she was too poor to have anything worth taking. She certainly gave that impression.   

 Lilli extended her arm, avoiding any contact with the Thing's body or blood. She couldn't take any more injuries at this point. She wasn't built for this.   

 She tapped the dagger's grip, and then pulled it out. Weirdly, the blade was gleaming. No blood to be seen on it.   

 It was suspicious, for sure. And probably magic. But Lilli knew better than to question good things, so she put it back in its sheath and turned back towards home.      

She stumbled through the tunnels, electing to take the path less traveled in order to not get beaten and robbed. It was slow going. Her feet were in pain and bleeding a little bit from stray sharp rocks.   

 Lilli stared straight ahead, willing her body to keep going. But her knee was rapidly giving out- the damage was worse than she'd hoped. She also didn't know shit about medicine, though, so she had no idea how serious it was. But her blood was soaking up her wrappings and her knee tendons were growing weaker, so it wasn't good for certain.    Was there a healer that was available this time of night? Lilli wracked her brain. The local healers were mostly volunteers, and they didn't know much more than she did. Not to mention that the Thing had certainly been of magic origin, and they would know even less about whether it had infected her with Thing babies.   

 Payment was also an issue. She now had money, but anyone in her neighborhood would immediately know she'd committed a crime to get it. And where to find her and her family. Not good.  So, she needed to find someone decidedly out of her normal options, who knew something about magical creatures and had questionable morals.   

 That could really only be a witch or wizard, and Lilli trusted neither option. But literal beggars didn't have much choice in this world or the next.   

 So at the next junction in the tunnels, she carefully waded over to take a tunnel on the right, leading to the Drieptail district. It was supposed to be full of magic users, and someone there had to meet her needs. If they didn't rob her and leave her for dead, either.   

 Everyone in this city was so goddamned rude.  “So, look out for guards. And pickpockets. And the gang members, storekeepers who throw broken glass, nobles with carriages, particularly shifty mages...” The list was too long and depressing.   

 A new list: talk to no one, keep to the shadows, try not to die or get fucked over too badly. A list that could be accomplished. What a win for Lilli and all the street urchins before her.   

 She crawled out of the tunnels, sure that she looked shockingly similar to a rat that had suffered severe burns and a run-in with a wet metal pipe. She felt dirty- more so than she usually felt.   

 Lilli straightened and tried in vain to make herself look less like a trash heap. One of her long fingers caught in a hole in her tunic and ripped the abused fabric down her leg. She felt like crying.   

 She let her eyes well up for just a moment, then swallowed. Standing here was more likely to make her a target than anything else.   

 So she slipped over to the side of a building and took a look around.    She'd heard about Drieptail before, but had never had cause or guts enough to make the trip. Lilli knew it was famous for its shape- winding and overcrowdeds streets in the circular pattern of a driep's tail.  Or so she'd heard. She'd never seen a driep, either. Unless it was that Thing in the waterways. Thinking back, she didn't remember much of a tail. So she still lived in mystery.   

 Her nose twitched as a spark of magical energy lit off a few feet away. A mage was creating spells of light, spelling... something. Ugh.   

 What she hadn't been prepared for was the sheer amount of foot traffic in the area. It was crowded, bright, smelly, and loud. It was hard to focus on anything in particular, but Lilli knew she needed to get in and out of this place. Or just to leave and take her chances elsewhere. Lingering was just a dangerous thing to do.  All the painted and enchanted signs were almost useless to her. Lilli took her chances at hugging the walls of the buildings down the street, trying to find something- anything – that she could identify as being helpful.   

 A big man bumped into her, and threw her back into the wall. She barely avoided knocking over any of the goods in the stall next to her- they looked like glass? And skittered farther to the side of the street.   

 The worst thing is that she knew he had seen her. People often looked without seeing- children like her in their raggedy clothes were depressing and no one wanted to see or  hink about them, so they didn't. But he had seen her, and then knocked her over anyway.   

 Lilli rubbed her shoulder, and examined the street. It was evident that she was on borrowed time. Her knee was oozing, and starting to smell.   

 Down the street, her sharp eyes caught a sign in the distance. It displayed a potion bottle, pouring into a mouth.  So, either a poisoner or a healer. It was worth taking a chance. Lilli looked around the street and saw that more than one vendor was staring at her with narrowed eyes. It was only a matter of time before she was accused of a crime (brutally, not even the one she'd committed, probably something like Bumping a Fruit with Nefarious Intent) and hauled off to a dungeon somewhere. If she was lucky, just kicked a bit in the street and deposited in the slums.   

 So Lilli sped across the street, narrowing dodging elbows and feet, and examined the storefront from close up. It was light, and smelled of herbs. No one was visible from the doorway, though.   

 Lilli walked in, trying to avoid getting her blood all over the rug in the entrance. 

 “Hello!” Someone boomed cheerfully farther back. “Welcome to Melthior's Healing Boutique, Pawn Shop, and Divination Studio! If you're here for the dance class, you're too early and need to come back in an hour.”  

“What the-” Lilli muttered, moving back towards the door. She bumped into something soft, and wheeled around.    It was a woman in red velvety robes, with what Lilli assumed to be magical signs on them in embroidery. She was evidently very into her aesthetic. Her soft slippers, many rings, and bracelets all matched. Her hair was a curly, dark-brown mass. It looked very solid.   

 The woman looked her up and down. Then up. And down again. She spent a while taking in Lilli's feet and dripping knee.    “You look like shit.” The woman said, still cheerful. “Take a seat, unless you injured your ass, too.” She hustled Lilli over past rows of books and items of indeterminate origin and use, past an open curtain leading to a room with a massive crystal ball on a table, and back to a cot in the darkened back of the shop. It was surrounded by iridescent crystals. They hung from the ceiling and stood on shelves, even on the floor. They seemed to be glowing, but very dimly.   

 Lilli took a seat as instructed, carefully avoiding spearing her tender feet on sharpened rocks. It would be just her luck to break something valuable in a shop like this, while also killing herself.   

 The woman fussed over a drawer, evidently looking for something and muttering words Lilli couldn't quite hear.  Lilli cleared her throat.   

 “I can pay.” She said. Unfortunately, her nerves had run out and so had her words, so it sounded like a question.  The woman didn't even respond. She found whatever she was looking for, took it out, and went digging on a shelf for something else.   

 Lilli felt uncomfortable. She tried to swing her legs to occupy the time- but the sudden and overwhelming pain in her leg put an early stop to that. She went to bite her nails, but caught a glimpse of how filthy they looked. Ew, the Thing's blood might still be under there.   

 Well, everything hurt and this was likely the end of the road. Lilli settled for examining the knick-knacks on the walls. There were skulls of varying species, more crystals. Books that she couldn't read, some very thirsty-looking plants.    They couldn't get any sunlight in here, it was an odd choice. But the plants did seem to be alive, purple spiky blooms that matched the flattering hues in Lilli's own skin. She kind of liked it.  A clatter behind her captured her attention.    Lilli turned quickly, heart racing, and arms up in a defensive posture to protect her head and chest.   

 It was just the same woman, but now slightly buried in a pile of magic junk.   

 Lilli lowered her arms, a little embarrassed. Luckily the woman didn't seem to have noticed how twitchy she was.   

 The woman brushed the pile off of herself, picked something up, and walked back to Lilli. She was very obviously thinking about something as she put some jars, cloth, and what looked like the contents of someone's pockets on the table next to Lilli. Then she bustled away into the warren-like walkways and disappeared.   

 Lilli did catch the words “grundat claws, ulunder leaves..” and something about someone named Elathor not pulling his weight around here.   

 She took that information and did the appropriate thing with it, which was absolutely nothing.   

 One of the pieces of what Lilli had assumed was pocket lint was wriggling slowly towards the edge of the table. She watched it go, not willing to touch it.   

 The smell of incense and burning herbs was making her woozy. The room seemed to get smaller and darker, and she was having a harder time sitting up.   

 She looked around through the haze. The blood on her knee had changed color from natural blue to a sickly green. And... the hole seemed bigger, somehow.   

 It seemed like a good time to lie down. She struggled to shift over without knocking things off the cot, and closed her eyes.   

 The burning in her arm and chest was spreading out to the rest of her body. It was getting a little hard to breathe.  

“Open up,” a voice instructed. Lilli considered opening her eyes to check that it was the same woman or at least not a murderer, but didn't have the strength at this point. She opened her mouth.    Something cool that tasted like a million rotten jaji farts poured into her mouth. It was chunky.   

 Lilli gagged, and then chewed out of necessity. Her eyes rolled open, but bright lights forced her to recoil and close them.   

 Something tugged at her hands and arms, and she let them go. Her entire body tingled, and her broken leg started to heat up. It was uncomfortable, painful even, but no more so than she'd already been in.   

 She involuntarily moaned a bit, and something else was poured into her mouth. This one tasted better than the first, if by better she meant “less like actual garbage, but still obviously made of the spleens of unwilling magical animals and medicinal detritus”.   

 Lilli felt herself drifting off as someone straightened out her leg with strong, sure hands.    Well, if she was going to die, this was probably an improvement over the waterway tunnels. At least she wouldn't show up floating in a local pool.    

She came back to consciousness slowly, with a dry mouth and unresponsive limbs. Lilli opened her eyes and let them acclimate to the darkness. She was wrapped up in a lot of fabric, which explained why she couldn't move.   

 Lilli also appeared to be in a separate room than before- some sort of indoor garden. Luminescent root plants sprawled across the stones, with leafy ferns and some flowering plants crammed into cracks. Vines hung from the ceiling, carrying magical lights and what looked like tools.   

 There was a note written next to her, but she couldn't read it. Lilli choked down the resignation, and closed her eyes again.   

 If someone wanted to tell her something, they might as well wake her up to do it.      

Some time later, Lilli awoke again to a series of light tugs on her body.   

 A robed figure was unwinding a series of long cloths from around her body. Every once in a while they would find a crystal, small object, or bit of greenery and put it into a basket near her head.   

 She watched in silence, unsure of whether this was a good thing. But she didn't hurt anymore. That seemed like a good sign.    

  As her mind began to process things better, she realized that the person in front of her had scaly, taloned hands. The color was impossible to determine, it was far too dark with only the glow of the root-like plants on the floor as a light source. 

 It took a long time for the person to fully unwrap her. Oddly, they never looked up at her face. When her leg was freed, she felt the pinch of their talons as they turned it around to examine her knee. Evidently it was at least somewhat satisfactory, as they then moved to her arms.  

  Lilli was somewhat disappointed to see that there were some marks from her injuries. She'd always been under the impression that magic healed you perfectly, without any scars.   

 Not that she would ever complain, it was just a bit of a let-down.   

 “What exactly did you get into that burned you up like this?” a raspy voice asked. Lilli had to assume it was the person twisting her arm around at angles. Not like they'd yet made eye contact, or introduced themselves as a doctor or something.   

 “Touched something I shouldn't have.” She said honestly, not sure how to say that she had barely survived a fight with an infant monster in an underground tunnel that no one was supposed to go into. Her throat hurt.  

They hummed, sounding unconvinced by her admittedly shit explanation. “Takes magic to do damage like that, you know any?” they asked, now examining her palms for any tell-tale signs of magic use.   

 “Not a bit.” Lilli was feeling a little exposed and therefore, twitchy. She didn't note a weight on her waist where a belt full of daggers should have been.  She was in a clean tunic dress that she certainly hadn't shown up in, too.   

 Lilli both understood that and felt affronted by it. She didn't have any other clothes to speak of, she couldn't afford to replace them if they'd been thrown away.   

 Oh no. She could, if nobody had stolen her stolen money and goods. Which obviously weren't on her at the moment, either.   

 She could feel the bile and panic rising. This was normal, her meager things were probably just in a basket somewhere. But she desperately needed to see and hold them to be sure.   

 “We had to burn all your clothes.” The figure said clinically. “Completely soaked with something and corrupted. They were literally killing you.” 

 That admittedly made Lilli's mind jerk to a stop. Could clothes kill you, normally?   

 “This will be included in the cost of healing you.” They gestured to the tunic she was currently wearing.   

 She nodded. That did seem to imply they thought she had money, so they probably hadn't outright stolen it.   

 “You died twice, actually.” The figure said, sounding altogether more conversational than she would have appreciated. “Whatever you fought got you good.” 

 “Am I infected?” She asked, throat protesting with pain.   

 The figure seemed to emote with their whole body, talons lifting into the air and torso shifting back. They looked surprised. “With what?”  

“Gross monster babies?” She hesitated. They didn't move.  “I saw a body.” she clarified. “And then its chest moved, and this, this...” she tried to gesture with her still sore arms, “hideous monster thing with scales and bones and wings attacked me.” 

 The figure leaned in a little closer. She still couldn't see under their hood. It was disconcerting.  She started to babble. “It flew and it was evil and it made me want to, you know”, she brought her hands to her heart, “it made me want to just lie down and die and when it clawed me or bled on me it burned. It burned so badly!”   

 “What color was it?” The figure asked, before taking her arm back to re-examine the long scar on it. 

 That was a good question. Lilli could easily see the Thing in her mind, but a color...?   

 “I don't remember it being any color, really. Maybe some sort of grey?” Lilli muttered, aware how that sounded.   

 “Now, we're getting somewhere!” The figure exclaimed, rocking back to stand on their legs and striding out of the room.  She blinked. When no other response or explanation seemed forthcoming, she examined her leg. It seemed to be fine, with only a fine long scar going down her kneecap where she'd split it on the floor.   

 Lilli then tried to stretch her arms and legs to evaluate the extent of the permanent damage. To the mages' credit, the only thing she really felt was a tired soreness. Not bad, especially as she'd apparently intermittently died during the healing process.    

  Bored, she took the rare opportunity to poke at the plants. The crawling roots shied from her more aggressive poking, but allowed her to stroke it gently. The roots had some sort of thin outer membrane with a fluid inside, they felt a bit squishy. As she petted it, the glow in the room became gradually brighter.   

 She could now see more clearly some of the things in the bowl next to her- but unfortunately seeing wasn't the same as understanding. Some of the herbs she sort of recognized, but the little talismans just looked weird. Some were shaped like people or body parts, one maybe was a drop of water or blood? Most of them were tiny rocks with shapes carved into them, somewhat like the shapes Lilli had seen on the woman's robe earlier.   

 “We had to try everything just to keep you alive, just so you know.”   

 Her head shot up. The figure from earlier was standing not two feet away from her, with a pile of books in their claws.    “That's why you were wrapped up so much, we didn't know what else to do but a full-body cleansing ritual.” They gracefully folded down onto the ground next to her.   

 “Thank you.” Lilli murmured, gratefully re-admiring her not deceased body.   A book flopped onto her lap, open. 

“Is this anything like the creature you saw?” The page did not have any pictures, just long long lines of squiggles.   

 Lilli looked back at the faceless figure with a flat expression.   

 “I can't read, whatever this is.” 

 They didn't even pause, pulling out another book from their pile and flipping through pages. “Yes, the author had really terrible handwriting- totally understandable. But of course when one sees something like this, they often have accompanying total nervous breakdowns. Penmanship doesn't seem as important after that, I think.”  They proffered the next open book. Ugh. They were earnest.   

 Lilli almost felt bad. She even picked it up, just to be nice. There were no pictures there, either. She tried to make sense of the letters,  but it just gave her a headache.   

 “I mean, I can't read. At all.” She emphasized, handing the book back in as an apologetic a fashion as she could manage. “Do you have any drawings, or...” 

 Their shoulders visibly slumped a bit. This person was surprisingly emotive with their body language, which either meant they didn't have to go outside into the city much or that they were powerful enough that being so obvious didn't matter. They were telegraphing the motions of thinking, now. 

 Lilli considered that for a moment.  It was such an obvious opportunity to pickpocket them that she actually pinched her hand to refrain. It was difficult to deny a decade of poverty-honed instincts.   

 “Yes! Archigry the Timely drew a picture beside their account in the last century. I'll be right back- don't go anywhere!” The figure peeled out of the room like a fabric lump possessed.    

 They returned with heavy breath and an even heavier book. The weight with which it hit the ground startled some of the roots into crawling away and blew Lilli's hair back. The person scrambled around it, fervently flipping pages. Lilli fully sat up and just watched.  A few very boring minutes later, they beckoned her over with excited hand gestures. Lilli crawled over. Why did it matter so much? She was already hopefully cured, so what was looking that awful thing up in a book going to do?  At the same time, she didn't want to ask any irritating questions to a wizard who could kick her ass.   

 So she looked directly where they were pointing and examined the drawing as best as she could.  Whoever had drawn this probably wasn't known for their artistic skills. It was very... disjointed. But it did obviously have the right amount of legs (six), and wings. These wings didn't have claws, but some sort of wonky stuffed hand things with foot-long fingers. Those scratches could have been meant to convey scales.   

 It was different enough that she could have said maybe it was something else, except for the head of the thing was rendered perfectly. Somehow, it even felt like it radiated menace on the page.   

 “Yup, that's the thing.” she said quickly, backing a bit away from the book. Just looking at that face again made her heart race. She felt a bit nauseous.   

 The person nearly dove onto the book, evidently re-examining the drawing. They then exclaimed something?? but it wasn't a language she knew.   

 “What was that?” Lilli asked, trying to be polite and not fidget with her fingers.   

 “It's nothing short of incredible that you got away alive. You shouldn't have. You should be very, very dead.” They said, tracing the lines of the drawing with a sharp claw.  This person had a real habit of saying upsetting things like they were commenting on the weather or the increasing prices of baked goods.    

 They turned to her, and finally pushed back their hood. Their face was scaly and mottled greenish brown, with a long jaw. Instead of hair, they had some sort of hard spikes and ridges.   

 Ohhhh. They were a Kaljaretan. Lilli had seen a few of them before, but none lived in the slums. The Kaljaretan pointed their claw at the picture. “This. This is a ktharyis.”  Lilli nodded blankly.   

 They looked a bit exasperated. “A deadly, tainted creature that is most often found in places of great suffering, and known to precede magical plagues.”  She was obviously not the conversational partner they were looking for, but she'd give it a try.   

 “Ahh,” she said, hoping that was acceptable.   

 They pointed at her, then back to the book. Slowly, like her eyes were the problem and not illiteracy.   “I need you to take me to this.” They pleaded. Their sharp predator-like eyes bored into her.   

 The memory of the Thing was so viscerally strong that Lilli felt her whole body shake.    Lilli wanted to step back, but she was sitting. So she settled for making distance by falling back on her ass and shifting her legs in-between her and that book.   

 “I'd really, really, really rather not.”