A Bored Lich

Elero, Olpi, and Frey walked under the snow-capped pine woods, east of Petal Town, with their heads on a swivel. Within the first hour, they had already seen signs of deadly struggles. Frey had ignored them, at first. His strides transitioned to a slow, methodical pace. He tediously examined anything and everything he could find; crude arrows, broken branches, and even torn bits of cloth. With the morning sun slowly rising to their favor, they needed not but to walk till either they found their targets, or their targets found them.

"I'm bored," Olpi said.

Elero slapped her on the back and said, "Nice to meet you, bored, I'm Elero."

Olpi let out a groan: "Why are you like this?"

"Cause I'm bored too. I need to make my own entertainment."

Frey, who had been listening to them talk for the past hour, finally spoke up. "You can still turn back. I won't judge you. It's only my baby nephew - the only family I have left in this world."

"Sorry Frey," Olpi apologized. "So, why are we only looking for your nephew and not your sister as well?"

Frey brushed aside a heap of snow and turned a broken fang over in his hand. "It's complicated between us. The short story is that I tried to protect her and she abused the privilege. I came back here to cut her out of my life for good." Then he muttered under his breath. "What are wolves doing in this place? I'm probably wrong."

Olpi could hear his muttering loud and clear with her keen, Elven hearing, but she decided not to let him know that. 'It's not going to be easy to repay my debt to these people, is it?' she thought. "You didn't come back for your nephew, did you?"

Frey tossed away the fang and signaled to march onwards. "No."

"You said you wanted to keep him in the dark about his ancestors as well. Why is that? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"It's best if he doesn't know me, or his ancestors."

Elero frowned. "Why not just come out with being a hero's descendent? Frey, you sound like you're going to hide yourself for your entire life. It's not like you."

A clear snap put the three on a razor's-edge.

Elero and Frey both condensed copper life essence around their ears and eyes. When another snap sounded, they whipped around to face a bush within a dozen paces of them. In a flash Frey had his pole axe out and ready, scaring off a little snow bunny.

In the bunny's panic, it left behind the leaf it had been peacefully grazing on. The group watched it hop away.

Olpi's laughter broke the silence. "After all the dangerous talk in town, you would have thought we would have encountered something more than a cute little bunny. Did you guys see how big it's eyes were?"

"Careful," Frey said, unamused. That kind of talk cost Wade his toes."

Olpi raised an eyebrow. "A monster that eats toes. You really expect me to believe that?" Frey smirked, and Olpi turned to Elero. "He's joking, right?"

Elero rolled her eyes. "What do you think Olpi? I know you haven't seen much of the world but you should be smart."

Olpi blinked. "Wait, is that a yes or a no."

"What do you think?"

Olpi grabbed Elero by the shoulders: "A simple yes or no would be great, please."

Frey glanced up the tree canopy, twirling a bloody arrowtip. Elero easily struggled out of Olpi's grip and walked over to Frey. "You heard that too, didn't you?" Frey nodded. "Want me to check it out?"

"I'll stay next to Olpi, just in case," Frey breathed back.

Olpi shook her head. "You're not going to fool me with any of this Toe-eater stuff, so stop acting so serious."

"Olpi, this is serious," Frey said. He took one step towards Olpi, who realized how serious he was as a snare tightened around his ankle. It was a trap.

The snare tightened, and the rope lifted.

"Frey!" Elero reached out a moment late, missing by inches. She could only watch Frey be hoisted into the air. Olpi threw herself out of the way as his weapon tumbled out of his grip.

As Olpi picked herself back up, her pointed ears twitched. The twangs of bowstrings preceded a series of whistles, which grew louder as they neared.

Olpi threw a stream of mana into magic circles, erecting a great wall of ice between the two groups. The collections of whistles were crude arrows that bounced off. However, the wall wasn't tall enough to cover Frey.

Frey saw incoming barrage and covered himself head to toe in life essence. The arrows bounced off his hardened skin, tearing away a chunk of his life essence. "Goblins!" he roared.

Goblins; tiny, green creatures with bows and daggers. When tribes grew large enough they would enlist mounts and follow a chieftain goblin's orders. Olpi had only ever read about them. Their shrill laughs rang throughout the forest as another volley of arrows threatened to pincushion Frey, had he not drawn his shield in time.

"We need to get him down from there!" Olpi urged.

"I'm on it," Elero said as she drew her rapiers, forgetting that her weapons were still broken from the Academy. She cursed. "I knew I should have gotten replacements in the capital."

Olpi's ears twitched. "They're moving closer. They're going to surround us. And they're…sounding off horns?"

"Horns aren't the issue right now," Elero exclaimed. "Can you extend that wall around Frey too? I think I know a way to climb up." She focused life essence around her nails, which extended like knives.

Olpi did as she was asked, and a third volley of arrows bounced uselessly off the ice.

"Thank you!" Frey called down. Elero used her claws like handholds to climb up the sheer ice while Frey attempted to use his blunted Kopis to hack away at the rope. "I can't get this stupid angle right. Little help?"

"Open your eyes Frey, what do you think I'm doing," Elero huffed.

Frey pointed downwards at Olpi. "No, Olpi needs help. Help her! I can get myself down."

Howls rang out.

Elero glanced down at Olpi, who retreated until her back hit the icewall. She cursed and dropped to the ground, right in front of Olpi's prepared spell.

"Elero, please move out of the way!" Olpi screeched. She tried to force the spell upwards in a last ditch effort, but it was too late to stop.. The spell activated point blank.